And quickly on to winter.... brrrr!

Autumn didn't really hang around very long - it's definitely winter now. I know this because the roads are all white, there's a blizzard outside and the car is going nowhere. Probably not even to work tomorrow by the look of things. Hmm. Better go and make a pot of soup before I start the day's knitting!

So here's the world from the third floor.

Nice to get a bit of sun amidst the blizzards! Doesn't last long though!

And so to autumn...

And the need to use up stash in covering extremities! So this bout of chest infection inspired knitting has come up with two pairs of wristwarmers - the pink alpaca and a 2x2 rib that didn't make the photoshoot - a cabled cowl (very cosy) - a calorimetry that really does keep the head warm and works with hair up - cabley fingerless gloves to match the cowl - and last but not least I finished off the blanket! At least I hope it's finished - it still looks a tad narrow on the bed....

The months go flying by....

So summer has gone ... no blogging due to various things like work, and holidays and oh yes I had to move out of my flat because the one above me went on fire and living in a smokey, ceiling damaged place is not a lot of fun... So here's a quick catch up of summer '10! I spent two weeks with mum, which we spent walking on the beach... eating cake...making cakes (don't try to eat these ones!) ... making felt (and a mess) in the kitchen ... mum liked this wee bowl...

I took a stall at the Stranraer show... my sister turned 50 so we had a party (and more cake)...

We went to Woolfest!

Yay! My sister and I went to Woolfest last weekend and had a lovely time. We stayed in a great B&B with Herdwicks in the field outside and a wee tea room called The Flock Inn with a sit-ootery too. Saturday we headed to Cockermouth and spent all day walking round the stalls looking and touching and going oooh - then it was a quick whizz round before it closed to buy all we wanted to buy! I got some knitting wool - a kit from The Wool Shed called The Weskit which is a really unusual design but apparently very 'me' so my sis says. I also bought lots of fleece both for needlefelting, but also for wet felting and because I have a real hankering to start spinning again.... (watch this space!) So got some merino dyed tops, lots of different types of fleece to try them out - Gotland, Jacob, Corriedale, BFL, Wensleydale, some Jacob xNorth Ronaldsay and Jacob x Suffolk plus some other fibres to try - black bamboo diamond, soy bean and so on. I also got some off cut bags of bits and pieces of felts etc to play with, some brooch backs and keyrings bits to also play with, some olive oil soap for felting, some more felting needles, some hand dyed muslin and white silk to try nuno felting, some great notebooks......

3 things to kickstart some posts!

Life has been very busy recently - with a change of job and all sorts going on so the blog has been kind of left behind. However I saw this on Fiona's Flotsam so thought I'd play along too: 3 names I am known by: Flapsi / Auntie Karen / Dr M 3 places I have lived Glasgow / Darwin / Kilbirnie 3 places I have worked Basketball stadium / Dojo / School 3 things I love to watch NCIS / the sea / taiko 3 places I have been Singapore / Washington / St Petersburg 3 things I love to eat Cake / Rice / Chicken 3 things I am looking forward to this summer 2 weeks with my mum / playing taiko / getting fitter! How about you, are you going to play along?

So what do you do when your family is away on hols?

Why you use their floorspace to block shawls! And very handy it is too - saves me from having to walk over damp towels and stretched out woollies in my room. The pink one my mum knitted about 3 years ago from some alpaca dk and she uses it a lot around the house and as a bed shawl, so it's been in the wash. The other one is my first clapotis done out of Natural Silk Aran. And I must remember to get more glass headed pins as they're much less painful after pushing in several hundreds of them...

And I've finished the waistcoat from Cotton Jeans! It's the Urchin pattern from RYC Classic Beach book but I wasn't sure about having a short sleeved cardi so just turned it into a waistcoat instead. I didn't put buttonholes in the band as I'm thinking of making it some kind of edge to edge thing instead... okay I just hate doing buttonholes in cotton - I can never seem to match them up properly somehow as cotton is pretty stretchy.

So next on the last summer sale yarn stash bust is the Diagonal Front Jacket from Debbie Bliss Home book - I'm using Rowan again - silk cotton this time - 20 balls in a lovely brick shade for 80p each last summer... can't beat that really.

A good Easter!

Well the sun shone, eggs were painted and rolled, cakes were baked and eaten, the nephews ate the chocolate while the grown ups were good and didn't, little chicks and bunnies got found in the garden and lots of pics were taken! So, definitely a good Easter! I've been knitting away on the Rowan Cotton Jeans and have pretty much finished the Urchin - as a waistcoat though I think as I'm not that fond of short sleeved cardis. Just got the button band and finishing to do. I wore the striped Buckland cardi on Saturday which was good - but the cotton has stretched quite a bit on the picked up button band edging so think I might need to frog and redo that bit. Bother! I hate doing button bands ...

Cottoning on!

It's definitely feeling like spring is in the air now. I thought about a giving the flat a good spring clean this weekend but am far too tired to be honest as I'm still not over the last bug. So I decided to chill out instead and get ahead for spring this year with the cotton knitting! I still have the clapotis to block which I'm hoping I might get to later on today. I started this cardigan last night it's Buckland by Martin Storey and is now available free from the Rowan website. I'm using an assortment of Cotton Jeans in blues and greys which I got in the John Lewis sale last summer. It's nice to knit with and will be soft and warm and ideal for summer evenings I think. I've had a quite a few knots which is a bit annoying so I'm not sure I'd pay full price for it. My guage is off and I'm still concerned about it stretching and growing so I'm doing up the 38 size and expecting it to come out nearer a 42. Let's hope I've got this right!

First Clapotis!

Finished this fairly quick knit. I used Rowan Natural Silk Aran which I bought for more than half price at John Lewis last summer - but I only bought 12 balls which wasn't really enough for a cardi, and I was having trouble with gauge and worrying about how this would stretch - so decided to use it for a clapotis - the amazing viral knit! It is very large - at the minute about 28" by 80" and that's not blocked - so the yarn does stretch like billyo and also sheds loads of bits all over the place. I'm hoping that will stop! Lovely colour and feel though so I'm hoping this becomes a much used summer wrap. And I feel great for having used up some stash!