Happy New Year

Wow! I can't believe it's been Dec 14th since my last post!
So much has happened, none of it knitting. Knitting seems to have ground to a halt here for the moment. I've been doing a little bit, but nothing worthy of a picture.

Dad has been ill again, another 11 hour stint in A&E was required on Tuesday. Hopefully he's sorted now, although it takes a lot out of an 86 year old being kept waiting that long.
Mam is ok, nothing out of the ordinary.
My brother in laws mother died on Christmas Eve and was buried this morning RIP. So sad to bury a loved one at this time of year. My friend from works mother was buried on Christmas Eve, so not a great Christmas overall here.

Although, can you believe Santa brought me two balls of Quivit? I can't believe it. I must have been a very good girl. Apparently it costs more per ounce than gold? Wowee. I will post pics of it next time, but suffice to say it's going to need a very special pattern for it!

Speaking of presents, the afghan went down a storm. Unfortunately it was gifted to the brother and sister in law who had the bereavement, but they rang me from Florida on Christmas Day to say thank you, they loved it so much. When I saw them again today for the funeral they were really grateful. Made me feel really good that they liked it so much!

I'm off out for a nice Indian dinner tonight. Hopefully that will give 2009 the kick in the butt it requires to make sure it goes away and never comes back again. 2010 has to hold brighter things for me. It has to. I shall have to make up a Resolutions list for 2010, and count up my FOs for 2009 to see if I finished more than 2008!

Happy New Year everyone!

Sock Complete!

I think I've paid suitable homage to the abandoned sock:

Pattern: Scrolls Socks
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% Superwash
Needles: 2.5mm Knit Picks Harmony dpns

I loved this pattern. I reckon I loved it more than it loved me considering I abandoned it and left it to fend for itself for two weeks. Other than that I think it was a marriage made in sock heaven. Just enough to keep me interested but not so busy that it kept me distracted from the re-runs of The West Wing I've been watching.

Don't they look good?

In fun news:
I know this picture is crap, but if you could see the wrapper you'd laugh too:

It's cheese that hubby bought today in Sainsbury's. It's called "Great British Aged Cheddar" that has been aged in "The Wookie Hole Cave". That to me equals Star Wars Cheese that has come from Chewbaccas bum.

Doesn't that sound yummy?????? Huh????

Yeah. Cheese lover that I am I think I might give this one a miss. I wonder why.

The Prodigal Sock

It's back! I knew it would come back to me. Whether it would still love me or not was another matter.

The precious prodigal lost sock.
I think it's still a bit annoyed with me, but I am doing my best to resolve any issues with lots of love and promises to finish it ASAP.
I have offered heartfelt apologies for the abandonment and have squished it several times.
I can only hope it's enough.

I'm trying to focus on good news today, after the atrocity that was the Irish budget today.
I don't want to think about how much money has been taken from my pay packet as a "public sector worker". I really don't. I was planning on taking 6 weeks off this year to mind Alice while the creche is closed and also to give my Dad a break and look after Mam, but I have to decide tonight if I can still afford it as I have to give my final answer tomorrow. So sad that they might suffer as a result of the governments mismanagement of all the wealth that was created in this country over the last 10 years.

OK, rant over. I need to focus on positive stuff, for my own sanity.

So, in positive stuff, the reporter rang back today, did an interview and wants to take my picture to put in the local paper with the article! OMG! I told her that it was a no go unless they took out the HUGE airbrush.
I was also fairly honest about how much knitting costs if you don't use acrylic, and how expensive a hobby it was (for me anyway) so it'll be interesting to see how much it gets edited to suit their article.
She has arranged to call tomorrow evening @ 7pm. In my idiocy I said ok, but I'm going to see Depeche Mode tomorrow. It's unreal how I can forget this stuff. I have been dying to see them for nearly a year! I lurve this band. (Dave Gahan in white jeans, swoon) But it was all forgotten when the reporter rang.
So, I'll have to ring them in the morning and see if we can work something else out.

In other celebrity news, I got a grope of Gabriel Byrne yesterday! I was walking out of my office on the way home when I practically walked into him. Of course I had to fumble him a bit whilst I said sorry! ;) Roman hands and Russian fingers lol...
BTW, he's GORGEOUS in real life, but really skinny. I reckon I could sort him out with some good home cooking.

The Cruel Side of Knitting

I'm heartless. Cruel, even.
First I left my poor sock in the cold dark glovebox, where it still resides. Alone, lonely, cold and scared.
Do I care? I thought I did, but apparently I do not, as I cast on another sock on Saturday. Gasp!
I think I may have even said in my last blog post that I would pine for it, and wait for it to be returned to me. I would save myself for it and not cast on any other socks.
Fickle. That's me. Although I am meant to get the socks, I mean car, back tomorrow so hopefully if I spoil the socks they'll forgive me.
Let me explain why I betrayed them. I went to Galway for the night on Saturday to see my friend who lives there. We're friends since school and we hadn't seen each other for ages so I was excited to go. I got the train there and back and it's a journey of approx 2 1/2 hours each way so what else could I do? I could hardly bring the sweater with me, or the Christmas lights so I really was left with no choice. It was socks or be bereft of a project in a prime knitting situation. I couldn't do it.
These are the socks I cast on:

Cauchy Socks from Cookie A's fantastic Sock Innovation book.
These are for hubby as he loves maths and these are kind of based on the mathematical symbol for inequality: <>. I'm knitting them with Sirdar Pure Cotton 4ply as he remains a wool hater. I think he's faking it though as he hasn't taken off the 50% wool Noro scarf and professes his lurve for it all the time. I cast on 70 sts instead of the 60 the pattern calls for so it will fit his manly hairy legs. Hopefully it's not too many!

So, dear abandoned sock, am I forgiven? I'll make it up to you tomorrow, I promise. I'll bring you to the knitting group tomorrow and pet you a lot.

In Seamless Colourwork Yoke Sweater news, there has been progress on the body of the sweater, but not a lot to look at.

Kinda boring looking, isn't it? What can I say - it's grey, 3 inches of ribbing and the rest stocking stitch. That's about as wild as it gets. Perfect tv knitting though!

No progress on the Christmas lights garland, I need to buy some stuffing for the ornaments. I thought I had an old pillow lying around that I was using the inside of for stuffing, but it appears hubby must have had a sly clean up and disposed of it whilst laughing demonically. (I'm guessing about the laughing, but it's not too far of a stretch, believe me.)

Oh! I almost forgot. I'll give you all a laugh. At the end of last week I got a phone call from the guy in the library who looks after the meeting rooms where we meet every week. He gave me the number of a journalist who wanted to write an article about knitting for a local paper. Yay! I thought, some publicity for our fine craft.
I finally got the journalist on the phone today. She told me she would ring me back on Wednesday for the interview, but that she was writing an article to publish next week on saving money for Christmas by making your own Christmas presents, and that knitting would fit it, wouldn't it?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
That was my response. Save money? Have you seen my stash in the spare room wardrobe? Have you any idea how much I've spent??
Oh, and publishing the article next week? How long do you think it takes to knit a pair of socks in time for Christmas?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I wonder will she ring me back now. Probably not. Oops. I did invite her to the group tomorrow night, but I doubt she'll come...

So that's it! I can't believe it's almost a week since I last posted, time sure is flying faster towards Christmas, and not a present bought for anyone or a card written!

Good knitting!

Ho Hum

It's been a bit of a ho hum week here.

I'm terribly concerned about the pay cuts that the Governemt are demanding for us Civil Servants and wondering how I'm going to manage next year. Plus it's not very nice reading nasty articles about yourself and the place you work in the press.

This recession is bringing out the worst in the Irish people, turning them against each other. Pretty nasty stuff.

Still, there's always knitting to take my mind off things and realise that there are lovely people around as is proven by my lovely knitty friends.

On to happier things, there's been a little bit of knitting since we last spoke:

I cast on for the string of lights from the Knit Picks Ornament kit.

Basically what you see is the Icord string and where the safety pins are is where the "light bulbs" will be. It's a really fun knit!

I also decided to cast on for something I have wanted to make for ages:

What you see here is the ribbing for a Seamless Yoke Sweater in colourwork by EZ. I'm doing the same pattern as in Newsletter #1 from The Opinionated Knitter, or on the Knitting Around DVD.

I'm mad excited to have started this, I really hope it turns out well!

My colourwork exercises so far have been very tight, almost puckering so I'm really going to have to concentrate on this one.

I've also deliberately cast on for a size that doesn't yet fit so that I might be encouraged to lose a bit of weight and fit into it. We'll see if it works!

Still no sock cast on yet, I think I haven't cast on another one in honour of the lost sock in the glovebox. I still don't have my car back from the garage yet, and I think I'm going to wait until I get it back so that I'll be so happy to see my poor sock that I'll knit like the wind to get it finished and make it up to it!

I never said my thought process was one containing logic.

Happy knitting!

Twit whoo!

Thanks everyone for the cowl pattern suggestions!

It's been a pretty horrible weekend here weather wise, but I have rectified that damp cold feeling with this gloriously quick and yummy project.

I had been thinking of making an owls jumper, but I realised that it probably won't happen until after Christmas, so I decided instead to make this:

Pattern: Owl Cowl

Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Grande

Needles: 8mm Knit Picks Options

Not sure if I'll enter this into the Simon Cowl category of the X Factor competition though, I think it was meant to be an original design, but hey. I love it.

Apologies for the second photo, I'm wearing tatty old comfy house clothes, I hadn't brushed my hair, and it's so dark that this was the best photo I could get.

I love this pattern. It was really quick and easy. The yarn is just fabulous too, so soft and scrummy that I could happily dive into a vat of it, never to be seen again. However, it did shed like my dog I had years ago. There was "fur" everywhere. Do not knit with this if you're wearing a nice top!

The weather here today is just rotten. Howly (like the owl reference???) winds, lashing rain and just miserably cold. The perfect day for sitting in your comfy tatty clothes, knitting away and watching movies on tv.

I've a yummy dinner merrily cooking away: ham, potatoes, cauliflower and cheese sauce. Mmmm NOM NOM.

I gave in to the pre Christmas crap yesterday and bought a chocolate Yule log too, so there may be an ickle (heh, HUGE) slice of that for dessert.

Dad is almost better, so hopefully I won't have to do so much running around next week. Suffice to say I'm worn out after last week, and particularly yesterday.

I made their dinner after buying it from the shops, went back down to collect his pension, went back down twice more to leave in his prescripton and collect it, cleaned their house, washed the dishes and gave my Mam a shower. Then I dropped her to the hairdressers and collected her afterwards.

Then, I came home to try and do something with my own filthy pit of a house. Yeah, let's just say it's still a filthy pit. But y'know what? I don't care. I'm happy in it. For another week at least.

Good knitting!

Mini Madness

OK, so I'm up off my death bed. Only just, mind you. I doubt I'll be running a marathon in the next while, but at least I can function again.

And, I can knit again! Yay! It was horrible to be separated from my friend the knitting needle for so long. I felt bereft and empty.

I found this pic on my camera of the Liberty Bell Afghan all parcelled up and ready to go in the house in Florida for my sister in law. Looks good, huh? I got the basket and wrapping from Michaels and I've left it there for her to find.

Right. Down to biznazz. Once I'd sufficiently recovered I returned to knitting with a vengeance. Remember Alice asked me for a hat with earflaps?

Here you go, hun:

Pattern: Norweigan Star Earflap Hat

Needles: I think 4.5mm Addi Clicks and dpns

Yarn: Cascade 220 less than one skein of each colour

I got gauge and knit according to the pattern but this still turned out HUGE. So huge that I haven't blocked it for fear she might get lost in it when she puts it on. It's a bit ridiculous looking to be honest, but she loves it and won't give it back, so that's that I guess.

Her verdict: "You rock Mom, it's way cool". So glad I could oblige. She's so easily pleased it's a pleasure to knit for her. Bless.

If anyone else wants gratuitous praise for completed projects, she's available to rent. Just pm me for details.

I finished the second Noro Striped Scarf for my Dad for Christmas.

I love this pattern. The finished results look great and it's a really warm and snuggly scarf. Hubby has worn his one nearly every day and loves it. Pretty amazing considering this yarn has 50% wool, and he hates wool!

So on to the blog post title. I have been bitten by the mini knitting instant gratification bug.

I cracked open the Knit Picks Christmas Ornament kit the other day thinking that I could manage a little project whilst I recuperate.

Well, I've managed a few so far...

Mini Hat

Mini Colourwork Sweater:

Mini Scarf:

Mini Stripy Sweater:

Mini Mitten:

I may end up having to get another tree to hang all this crap from. I'm going to have to get some stuffing too for the fairy lights chain and the sweets etc.

I'm always coming up with these great ideas of stuff to make and then when I start them they're not nearly as much fun as I think they're going to be.

Although that's maybe a bit disingenuous to the kit. The little sweaters are cute.

In sad news, I am without a sock at present. My car is in the garage for repair, and my sock is in the glove box! Oh noes! I hope it's ok and not too cold or lonely in the dark box. I'll make it up to it when I get it back. In the meantime I am sock-project-less. Not a nice place to be.

So, I wound my ball of Plymouth Alpaca Baby Grande last night.

(I never said the two things made sense together). I needed a project for the knitting group, and hadn't the time to choose a sock pattern & sock yarn so I grabbed the Alpaca and ran with the intention of knitting a cowl so I could enter this competition being run by a knitty friend. It's an X Factor knitting challenge and I thought I could enter the Simon Cowl category.

I decided to try this pattern, but I didn't like it after a couple of repeats. So I'm on the hunt for a nice cowl pattern that can be made with one skein of Plymouth Alpaca Baby Grande.

So I need a pattern quick! Any ideas?

Good Knitting!

Sick as a dog

Me not well. Very not well.
Since Thursday I've been in a heap.

I actually thought I might have had swine flu I felt so awful. I finally managed to drag my ass to the doctor this morning and he said it's not swine flu, but a bad infection. Infection? More like runover with a train.
Anyway I'm off work for a week and on steroids.
A measure of how sick I am? I can't even knit. Typing this makes me want to go lie down for a while. So, hopefully normal service will resume in a few days.

Guess who's back, back again...

I know I was missing for a bit before I went away, but I swear, teacher, I do have a good excuse!
I won't get into the specifics as that would involve a lengthy post all on its own, but suffice to say that Dad got suddenly ill on the Saturday before I was due to go away. ( I found him collapsed on the bedroom floor where he'd been for 6 hours, but didn't call me as "he didn't want to bother me"). So bad I had to call an ambulance and he was admitted to hospital. The social worker got involved and refused to release him into the current home situation (caring for my Mam).
I finally managed to get him released on the Wed evening after I had organised a private health care crowd to call every day while I was on holidays, at a cost of approx €1000 for me.
So, I was due to fly out on Thurs morning, and I only knew for sure I was going on Wed night.
I shall summarise and say that I genuinely thought this holiday wasn't going to happen, and even when it did, I was so stressed out that the first week was kind of a blur.
BUT,
I did manage to have a good time, and I did do some yarn shopping.
Before the pron goodness, I must say a very large thank you to my hubby, John. He was an absolute rock during the crisis with my Dad, as he constantly is with my Mam. I don't think I could cope with them on my own. He really is a superstar. I love you.

Ok, slushy stuff over, let's get down to the knitty yarn pron gritty.
Bear in mind that I was much more restrained this year due to the current economic climate...
So I bought the following in no particular order:
Sugar n Cream Stripy stuff in various colours:

Patons Classic Wool as Alice specifically asked me for a Sock Monkey from the free pattern that accompanied it. I know, I KNOW it's toy knitting, but I was BEGGED. What can you do?

Then I found the bead section in Michaels. Short story = I went mad buying stuff to make stitch markers. Watch this space for exciting new stitch marker discovery stuff.

So I also bought some yum:

Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine

What a yum colour.

Some Cascade 220 as you can't go wrong with it:

Some Louet Riverstone as I fell in love with the colour but have no idea what to make with it:

Some more Sugar n Cream:

And then I went Knit Picks shopping.

I bought the Christmas tree ornament kit:

All Palette yarn, and needing to be knit asap.

I got my hands on the Maeve Fair Isle Mittens and Scarf kit:

I also grabbed some Essential tweedy sock yarn:

I shopped further afield and grabbed:

Fibranatura Yummy:

And scoop of all scoops...

Malabrigo Sock!!!

So that seems to be all of my purchases.

Project news:

The Noro Striped scarf is complete, in fact hubby wore it to work this morning. I have enough left over to make one for my Dad for Christmas.

This was my airplane and holiday knitting. Due to the flake out/total destress/in a heap nature on my holiday I'm very sad to report that there are no fantastico by the pool looking sexy avec la sock photos. But I do attest that some sexy by the pool fantastico sexy avec la sock knitting did take place. It was thououghly enjoyed by both me and the sock. Between the flights and the lounging, this is how much I managed to get through:

One and a half socks. Not bad going when you factor in all the sunbathing, swimming, park visiting and shopping. Not to mention the odd drinkie. Odd. Definitely odd. ok?

It was a great break, once I managed to let go.

I can't tell you how stressful it was, not knowing whether I was going or not until the afternoon before the flight. My poor Dad, he felt so guilty for getting sick, and my Mam? Oblivious.

There is a whole heap more to this story, if you want to know, feel free to ask. I just didn't want t0 clog the knitty place with any more personal stuff. Suffice to say that I spent most of this holiday either on the phone to Mam & Dad or the hospital workers, or worrying about them. I figure this will be my last holiday until they pass.

So I now have been given my Christmas orders. Hubby wants a new sweater that doesn't have "boobies" (see previous posts) and Alice wants a matching hat and mittens set, but the hat "HAS" to have ear flaps as they (her ears) "get really cold and I can't learn in school coz all I think about is my cold ears", plus they're COOL. OK so, a hat with ear flaps it is.

How I've spent my Sunday

OK, so it all started with a discussion on the Irish Knitters board on Ravelry, here.
Someone mentioned making an Owls sweater, and we all just kind of decided to join in, as you do.
I must admit I think it would be great fun if we all assembled en masse in our Owly creations on the streets of Dublin. Imagine the looks we'd get? great fun.
I've always liked this sweater, so I said that I'd join in but not until I get back from holidays.
Yeah, that worked.
Now this sweater is meant to be knit in Bulky weight yarn, but, y'know bulky me + bulky yarn does not equal a flattering project in my opinion, so I was thinking about using something else.
namely, Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I lurves this yarn. I know it's not an Owly colour, but hey. I like pink and what's wrong with bringing out the feminine side of owls?
Only problem was, it was already made into a cardigan that I didn't like, the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan(ugh):

Like I said, I wasn't even going to think about this until I came back from holidays.
So, today, after a bit of cleaning around (I'm so proud of myself for managing to do some cleaning!) I attacked the cardigan.
I must admit it was quite nice ripping that thing back to the yarn again. I hated that project, I think it was my biggest "pattern for me" disaster ever. Anyway, I ended up with a load of balls (stop it)

Yay! I thought. I'll just skein them , wash them and hang them to dry and my Owls sweater will be ready to start when I get back from holidays. I like the way I keep reiterating "after the holidays", as if I'm going to do that now? No chance.
Anyway, skeining isn't the easiest thing in the world to do, especially when you have to wind the balls into centre pull balls first as otherwise they hop all over my (uncleaned) kitchen floor.
So I wound them first, then skeined them. About an hour and a half later, I have this:

Lots of lovely washed skeins of yarn de-kinking on the line beside my lurvly hand made socks that I washed while I had the bowl of soak. Kill two birds? Oh yes. And it was one more job off the list. See how I made this into a house cleaning task? I know, I'm a domestic goddess. (snort)

So, once these dry I have to wind them again into centre pull balls and I'm all set for my Owls jumper. When I get back from holidays. Not before. No.
All I need to worry about now is getting gauge or redoing the pattern for lighter weight yarn, upsizing the pattern for me, and doing lots of maths I'm sure. So yeah. A piece of cake.
After my holidays. Not before.

Swallowed by a black hole

I know, I know, I've been lacking in the blogging. I just don't know where the time has gone.

I think maybe I was swallowed by a black hole and was only spat out this evening.

It reminds me of the excuses I would give to teachers for not having my homework done: "But teacher, I DID do that 6 page essay on the merits of Othellos realtionship with Desdemona, and it was fabulous, but then my rabbit must have been hungry, because next thing? It was shredded on the floor."

I haven't been neglecting my knitting however, here you go, an FO:

Pattern: Baby Aran Cardigan from an ancient Wendy pattern

Yarn: Sirdar Bonus Aran

Needles: 3.75mm and 4.5mm KnitPicks Options

(I know the picture is crappy, but it's dark here people)

A grand and handy knit, it must be said. Just too much seaming for my liking. I do like the bobbles, though I'm unsure about them for a baby garment. I think the temptation for a baby to suck on them would be quite high? Still, the one thing my friend asked for was an aran for the impending arrival. I think this fits the bill.

I also think this is my baby knitting obligations fulfilled.

I love the buttons too, I got them last Saturday on sale in a store, I think €1.10 for 4? They suit it great I think.

It's a shame that I mis-calculated the button spacing and left too large a gap in the middle. Still, overall I'm pretty happy with it.

I've also made another one of the Petal bibs, in the yummy yellow Rowan cotton that Tara sent me, but I accidentally deleted it from the camera. DUH. I'll post a pic next time, I promise!

My next piece of knittyness is the Noro Striped Scarf:

I've been dying to make this for ages, and we're in the middle of a cold snap at the moment (3C this morning, scraping ice off the car windscreen ugh) so what better time?

I'm not using Noro, but King Cole Mirage (a budget friendly alternative).

I thought when I bought the balls that the colours would go very well together, but upon knitting I think it's a bit masculine and insipid. Maybe I can lie to hubby and pretend there's no wool in it and see if he'll wear it?

Still, it's mindless easy peasy knitting so I'm good with that for the moment.

Only 2 weeks until my Sunshine State excursion! I'm so excited you'd swear it was my first time. I think making the afghan has increased the excitement level by a few notches.(Plus the promise of some sunshine!)

I'm still torn about my airplane project, although I think I'm decided upon the yarn. I think I'm going to spoil myself on the plane and knit with one of my Wollmeise skeins. Which one and what pattern? God knows so far. Some work is required I think.

Speaking of work, I need to get my internet orders from KnitPicks and Webs sorted too. Methinks some KnitPicks City Tweed is called for, but apart from that? Who knows. Anyone have any yarn faves from these two retailers? And from any others, as I will be visiting 3 LYS while I'm there too!

Have a good week!

I Got Game

I can bring it. Oh yes I can.
Behold, the Liberty Bell Afghan in all its finished glory:

Pattern: Liberty Bell Afghan from Cover Up with Nicky Epstein

Yarn: Various Acrylics and cotton backing fabric

Needles: 5mm Addi Clicks

Here you can see the backing fabric and how it goes with the afghan front:

Isn't it great? I can't wipe the smug grin off my face at the moment.

This was the backing fabric pinned and tacked befoew sewing in.

Thanks to the girls from my knitting group and my sister in law, I have mastered the invisible hem stitch. Check it out:

Neat huh? It took me about 4 hours to sew in the backing fabric which I think is quite good considering it was by hand, and my first time. I finished it at about 6 this evening when I made and sewed on the tassels.

So, do you think my sister in law will like it? I sure hope so!

In the meantime I cast on for this Baby Aran Cardigan.

The back:

The Left Front:

Just the thing, some instant gratification after a long hefty project like the afghan.

In other great news, I got the most fantastic care package from Tara. I had put out a plea for a copy of Interweave Knits Weekend, as it wasn't available here, and she kindly volunteered to post it to me. Much to my surprise, there were goodies in the parcel too!

A gorgeous sheepie card addressed by her adorable daughter, a kite for Alice made by her husbands own fair hands and a ball of Rowan Handknit cotton in the most scrumptious shade of yellow. Reminds me of banana ice cream. Isn't she the best? Thanks Tara!

My Mam had her brain CT scan today. Once I managed to get her up, dressed and out of the house it wasn't too bad actually, I thought when she saw the machine she'd have a fit, but the staff were great. They didn't give her a chance to freak, just popped her on the bed and bish bash bosh. Just what she needed.

Let's hope the results of the scan and the geriatrician appt on Thursday go as well!

Not much in the way of knitting

It's been a quiet photo worthy knitty week here.
I'm about to start the last chart of the afghan (can I get a yay?) so I hope to have a beautious FO to show next post. I'll have to wait till next Tuesdays knitting group to get help to sew on the backing fabric though, so it won't be fully finished till then.

I've knit about 4 rounds of Alices Sunday Swing socks as well, so like I said a really slow week.

We went to the Dublin Kite Festival last Sunday though, and it was great fun. It was an amazingly hot day, not a cloud in the sky. So rare for here, let me tell you! Just perfect for viewing kites, although not quite windy enough for flying them...

Hubby took lots of pictures:
Here's a slideshow of some of the best pics we took:

Oh, I almost forgot, I got an email from The Book Depository and my copy of Alice Starmore's Fair Isle Knitting is winging its way to me as we speak! I can't wait to get this and have a good read.

I'm one subborn MoFo

I'm a really stubborn person. Maybe it's the Irish in me, I don't know, but I won't let anything beat me. Especially not this knitting project. I'm going to finish this by God, and I would prefer to have this finished in the next week or two so I can get back to something nice for me before the holidays. Speaking of holidays, time is getting on so I need to pick my airplane sock project. Any ideas?
Progress so far:

I've finished the star chart and am on to the second last chart, the emblem.
Here's an idea of the size of it so far, compared to Alice (who is tall for her age)

It's looking good, no? Of course once I finish the knitting I then have to figure out how to sew on the backing.
We've started watching the West Wing again from the beginning (Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn, sigh) so I'm feeling suitably American-ly patriotic whilst knitting this.
I've had an awful cold recently too (no, not Swine Flu) so it has been very comforting to have this on my lap.

I got what I presume is the Fall issue of Vogue Knitting in the post today.

I don't know what is up with the Designer Knitting title, why not just call it Vogue? Anyway, I've only just got it and haven't read the articles yet, just flicked through the patterns.
Two catch my eye so far:

I like this, but don't know how wearable this would be for me. Methinks a tad bulky, but I love the stitches in it, especially the cabled band.

This one I love.

I think it looks fab on the model, but she has no boobage. I think the place where the cables stop and the yoke begins would make mine look even bigger (if poss) so if I were to make this I would have to make the cables stop lower or higher. If I ever get round to it! I do love it though, I love cables, and I reckon this could easily enough be converted to in the round á la EZ's EPS. Hmmm...