The Ballband Cloth!

I've loved the look of this since I got the Mason Dixon Knitting book last month, so of course I had to try and track down some Peaches & Creme and give it a go! I love the bright cheery sunniness in the kitchen.

Spring?

Dishcloth mania is continuing ... I went back to work this work which of course entails spending a lot of time on a train (two times 6 hour journeys!) so took some cotton with me. What I didn't expect was that the lovely dark green in the sunflower variegated shades used above would come off all over me and my bamboo needles. Probably the only time I've been green fingered in my life. Ah well, I found most of it came off with travel wipes. Most. I loved these patterns though. I now have the Ballband Dishcloth on needles. It's fun too.And it was a sunny day and on looking out the train window I realised I was passing all these spring like ploughed fields. Is winter really over?

Dishcloths!

Two handknitted cotton dishcloths now reside in my kitchen - it was a bit of a struggle to make myself get one dirty today and er actually wash the dishes with it, but it was great to use. The blanket is progressing though as the rows get longer it seems to get slower. Floors got washed today and a pile of handwashing done along with a trip to Tescos. Tomorrow I'm planning to get out for a walk a bit further afield and head down to a shopping street about 20 minutes away - after 3 weeks or so in the flat it feels like a big adventure! Of course I pass a lovely wool shop on the way ....

Knit on!

Quite tired still, and not venturing far from the house, but on the mend I think - fingers crossed! The log cabin blanket is getting bigger and is still a choose what comes next when you get to it experiment. As the Selfish Knitters on Ravelry are having February One Skein KAL (I've already used a few on the felted boxes and the fireside socks), and as I've been tidying and organising the flat in short 15-20 minute bursts of energy, I decided to try something new for me - knitted dishcloths! I had this ball of bog standard cotton in the stash - not nearly as pretty as some of the yarns folks are using but it's cheap, it's in the stash and it'll do the job. I'll admit to having some ordered some nicer Peaches & Creme online though ....

Another day

Another day in the convalescence house - today's achievement was to get the ironing done! It was a long term pile - pre Christmas anyway - so it feels good to have it out the way now. The fireside socks knitted up really quickly and are fun and colourful. The blanket is still growing, though now that the rows are longer it seems to grow more slowly. I'm drinking my 2l of water, eating proper home cooked meals and about 6-7 portions of fruit and veg each day, so hopefully all this will have a good effect!

The world is white

The snow started again before I went to bed last night and yep, when I pulled back the curtains this morning it was all white! Today's challenge was hoovering the whole flat and a bit more tidying - kitchen drawers this time. So once the ironing pile is done that would mean the whole flat is pretty tidy and sorted. Now, how does one manage to keep it that way ....? On the whole use up the odd skeins thing I decided to try and see if I could get a pair of cosy socks from this gedifra wool - only 2 odd balls. It took a few tries to make the socks long enough but leave enough wool to finish them off, but just managed to squeeze out something useable. On to the second sock now ...

Whodunnit? Cybercrop ...

It's cc weekend over at UKS and the theme is murder and mystery... ooh, scary! I've been joining in as I can in a fairly relaxed way and have done a few layouts, mostly from family hols in summer 07 down in Yorkshire. There's been a few new things for me like printing out the journalling title and the watercolour frames so good fun all round.

Getting bigger!

Blanket update - the soft shetland is, well, softer than the shetland heather wool so having tried it I ripped it back out and decided to just see how far I can go with the heather wool I have. Maybe the soft shetland could be a big border if needed. We'll see. I've gone onto circular needles as it was getting too big for straights and have discovered I seem to knit a bit looser on circs... oh well. Still loving it though, and it's another sunny morning here, so if you don't have to go far in the snowy showers then it's fab! I've been doing more of the tidying etc, and that feels good - have just shredded all my old tax and work stuff up to about 2002 - that was a big bag of paper I didn'tneed in my life!

A sunny day!

Love these sunny winter mornings - it's nice and peaceful to get yourself up and sit in the sun with a cup of tea and some knitting, and know that even though it's cold outside it's like a little conservatory here! So that makes me feel a bit better this morning. And the blanket is growing apace, very addictive knitting this. Think I'm going to add in some Shetland Soft, oyster which should match in well. I've already used up 230g and have 680 left of the Heather naturals but think it would be best to make a really nice big snuggly blanket so using up some of the shetland soft might be the answer.And Happy Birthday to mum who loved the needle cozies that royal mail delivered today.... though it took a suggestion from brother in law before she realized what they were! But she loves them and I can't wait to see them all displayed full of needles!

Birthday card and cozies

I know it's still wintering out there, but it's my mum's birthday tomorrow and I felt that with all this illness and wintery weather we could do with something a bit cheerier and almost spring like - so did this card for her. I don't do that much embossing but it does make the stamps stand out better so think I'll keep on with it. (And just try not to get too messy...) And I wrapped up all these felted cosies to keep your knitting needles all snug and tidy - they're from Cat Bordhi's Second Treasury of Magical Knitting, which is a great book, though I still need to learn how to do the whole Moebius thing... maybe next week! Anyway hope mum doesn't see this til she has guessed what they're for!

Rolling along...

This is a great project - fab wool, lovely natural colours, lots of great memories of buying it on Shetland on hols last year, it keeps the lap warm as you knit, it's all garter stitch so you don't need to pay much attention - zen knitting for sure! At the minute I'm still on the sketch but making it in miniature if you know what I mean, so will need to branch off soon but think I'll just keep going following what looks like a good colour scheme. I only have about one ball of each colourway so just seeing how things go. On more antibiotics again so another week in to recuperate, which is just as well cos I don't think I could face the big bad world out there at the mo. My sis is ill as well at the moment so weekend plans look like being cancelled - shame cos she does love a good cybercrop (at UKS)!

Log cabin fever

This could get addictive! Think I've got the gauge sorted now, and am making the panels a bit smaller to reflect the amount of colours I've got. Very relaxed knitting, just as well as my brain is retreating further into the flu fug.

Blankets of snow

Gosh it was fascinating sitting watching those great big snow flakes all flurrying down this afternoon.... off and on in mini blizzards all day! Not as bad here as some other places, but still made you feel good to be sitting inside knitting a blanket!This is the Moderne Log Cabin from Mason-Dixon Knitting, which kind of slipped into my Amazon basket one night in January, and I've had great fun with it so far with felted boxes and now trying out this blanket. I'm using a mixed bargain bag I brought back from Shetland last year, in Heather Aran, all naturals, so will need to amend the square sizes I think just to fit what I've got, but that'll be all part of the fun! The cough is still there and feels more like a good old fashioned head cold now ... wonder what tomorrow will bring!

1 February

Well hello world! So this is what it feels like to wake up and not have to worry about filing a tax return... cos I did it yesterday! And got my accounts all the way up to this very date. Now all I need to do is keep it that way .... Still knitting away and having felting fun in the washing machine, and by hand - but that gets tiring and tedious very quickly, though interesting things happen to the colours when you get so bored you boil up the knitting in a pot ontop of the cooker. I quite like that effect! But I'm starting to look covetously at those little portable washing machines that are aimed at caravanners or bedsit land. It would certainly be more controllable than using the front loader and wondering what on earth you're going to end up with. Maybe.... Pics to follow sometime! (Though with mum's birthday soon I have to be a bit sneaky about them!)