Smelling the roses

The rose garden at Blenheim is finally in bloom.



I love these golden ones with the pinkish tinge at the edges.



And these frilly pink ones.



And the icebergs are just gorgeous.





Looking at the grey clouds outside now it's hard to believe the sky was this blue on Saturday.



After the rose garden we visited the secret garden - I love this sunken knight.



Polliwogs in the pond.



Seeing the water boatmen and pond skaters brought back memories of pond dipping when I was at primary school.

The formula for sock knitting happiness

1 sock <= total sock yarn/2 = happiness
1 sock > total sock yarn/2 = misery (or at least some careful thought about contrasting toes/cuff depending on which way you're knitting the sock).



I have finished the first Medrith's little lace sock in my inaugural handspun sock yarn and I have more than half the yarn left. Hence, joy!

I did have thoughts about putting these in the (imaginary*) Christmas gift-basket but then I tried the first one on and they fit me perfectly so I'll be keeping them ;-)

* the basket is imaginary, the contents are, or will be, real.

Medrith's little lace socks

I finished my second 3 ply yarn and first attempt at sock yarn on Sunday.



I'm really pleased with this. It's a tiny bit thick and thin in places but not so as you'd notice once it's knit up.

Once the yarn had dried I set about swatching. I worked two swatches (by which I mean I started and ripped out two different patterns) before I found the right combination of pattern and needle. I first of all started to knit a pair of Monkeys on 2.5mm needles and only stopped when I realised that I was risking breaking a needle everytime I tried to k2tog.

I finally remembered this pattern in A Gathering of Lace (Aliki - remind me to give you your book back!) which is knit over 52 stitches on 2.75mm needles, perfect for a slightly thick sock yarn.





The length of the repeat (24 rows) means that you only need to knit 3 repeats for the leg and so the sock is knitting up really quickly - I'm already part way down the foot.

My success with this sock yarn means that I'm definitely going to try a fingering weight with my big bag of grey Shetland fibre.

FO - Handspun Fetchings



I'm trying to knit up the handspun as soon as possible (after all, that's the point of spinning it) so I turned my Spindlefrog yarn into a pair of Fetchings. I tried to make the cuffs a bit longer so as to use up more yarn but they're evidently not long enough as I still have half a ball of the yarn.

Ravtastic

I had a super time at the UK Ravelry day in Coventry. Even the dismal weather didn't put a dampener on things (although the Toft alpaca looked a bit fed up).



My first stop of the day was to see Lilith at the Old Maiden Aunt stall. I've been reading her blog ever since she assassinated me in Sock Wars in 2006. To show there were no hard feelings I took along some chocolate which appeared to be very welcome.

I attended the Toft Alpaca felting workshop with with Helen, Kate, and Sarah which was good fun and full of interesting alpaca facts.



We made some knitted beads for felting and then used needle felting to embellish some pre-felted beads. I'm now very keen on the idea of felted baubles for Christmas.



In the afternoon I sat with Ruth, Clare, Katie and FB (resplendent in duck trousers) for Meg Swanson's talk. She read two extracts from The Opinionated Knitter, did a bit of a Q&A and then showed us some classic examples of EZ knitting including a baby surprise pullover - so cute.



Jared Flood introducing Meg Swanson



Meg Swanson in EZ rib warmer

Between the workshop and talk I shopped and talked to the vendors and exhibitors - I had a lovely chat with Rachel of Rachel John Extreme textiles who knits and crochets rugs, carpets and throws using 26mm (and larger) needles and hooks using multiple strands of yarn. There was a wonderful inch thick 2m square piece knit using brown carpet wool and a beautiful throw knit at a much looser gauge using many stands of blue mohair with one strand of red and one of gold thrown in.

Want to see what I bought?



I wasn't planning to buy commercial (rather than indie) yarn but I just love Louet Gems and I couldnt' resist these colours.



100% Shetland combed top in Moody from Old Maiden Aunt



Superwash merino sock yarn in Gothic from Old Maiden Aunt

I also bought 500g of grey Shetland as I'm really keen to make a non-sock garment from handspun. I was going to go for the black but then decided that I wanted to do cables and thought that they'd show up much better in the grey.

The only thing now is to decide what to start playing with first.

All the pretty fibres

I am really looking forward to Ravelry day on Saturday. There's going to be lots on offer for spinners - spinning and the Coventry Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers are going to be there, there's a demonstration of long draw spinning, and, of course, there'll be fibre. The Toft Alpaca shop will be there and Fyberspates and Lilith from Old Maiden Aunt.

With this FEO (fibre enhancement opportunity) so close at hand I thought I'd better getting busy on Megan's Hartzview sock fibre:



Before starting I split the fibre into three sections in order to spin a three ply. I've now spun two and a bit so I'm over two-thirds of the way there. The superwash merino/nylon blend is very easy to spin fine and I'm getting it pretty even too. I can't wait until I can ply it - plying is like the spinning equivalent of blocking lace, the point at which you see just how good the thing you've made is.

The daisy chain effect

I feel I should apologise for putting the mockers on the weather for the UK Ravelry day in Coventry on Saturday. You see on Tuesday I was in John Lewis in Reading and thought that as it would be way too hot for knitwear at the weekend it would be really nice to have a new skirt to wear to Ravelry day. I chose 1 metre* of gorgeous Amy Butler fabric from her Daisy Chain collection in deco rose/brown and a matching zipper and thread.

I mentioned my plan at Sticks and String that evening and got one or two raised eyebrows at the idea of whipping up a skirt in time for Saturday. Thanks to my insanely competitive nature this meant that I had the fabric washed, the pieces cut out and the zipper sewn in before I went to bed (admittedly very late) that night and the whole skirt finished the next night.

Sadly my actions have obviously caused an areas of low pressure to form over Europe which, heading north, will mean heavy rain in Coventry by Saturday. I'll still be wearing my skirt though (maybe I could get matching wellies instead of flip flops) and I suppose this means that everyone gets to wear their knitwear after all.



Pattern: a-line skirt from Barcelona skirts by Amy Butler
Size: M
Modifications: I shortened the skirt length from about mid calf to above knee, partly because that's how I like my a-line skirts, partly because that's how much fabric again.

My only regret (apart from the weather of course) is that I didn't buy another metre in a different print to make two skirts.

* at £9.50 per metre with a zipper and thread that's still a pretty cheap skirt (I already had the pattern).

For the love of handspun

Phew what a weekend! It was almost a relief to get back to work so I could have a rest, sometimes there's a lot to be said for a sedentary job ;-) On Friday evening I had plans to go to the theatre with Helen to see Othello. We met in town after work and debated a while over whether to go for the cheap and cheerful Mexican place or a blow-out dinner at Jamie's. Jamie won hands down, yum! Happily we'd met up really early so there was time for dessert and the play was great too.

On Saturday I got up early and caught up on the episodes of Springwatch that I'd missed during the week. It's sad that Bill Oddie isn't presenting this series but the birds and animals are still fabulous. Plus there's Simon King who I've been a little bit in love with ever since I realised that David Attenborough was a bit too old for me :-) It's especially exciting for me this year as I was able to take part in a Springwatch survey - normally I've never heard/seen the thing they're asking about - about cuckoos. I just left my comment on the Springwatch blog (please note that if you click on this link the page will take sometime to load as they've had 11027 responses!). Felix and I heard two cuckoos (or at least one cuckoo in two places) on our walk last Monday.

Anyway I was rewarded for my early start by a parcel from the postie containing some gorgeous sock fibre which I had ordered from The Thylacine on Thursday. I'd mentioned to Megan on earlier in the week that I'd spun all my fibre and she just happened to let slip that she'd updated her Etsy shop - she's such an enabler! It was hard to choose between all the colourways, I really liked this and this but as I wanted to try spinning some more sock yarn I plumped for this blend of superwash merino in the Hartzview colourway.



Megan also included a couple of samples of superwash merino/seacell and undyed superwash merino/bamboo which I spun and plied to get my hand in before tackling the sock fibre.



I wanted to try a 3 ply yarn with the undyed fibre and thought that I could save time and fuss by spinning each of the singles onto the same bobbin in a different position. Not such a cunning plan as it turned out. The third ply kept breaking and in the end I got more of a 2.5 ply! I shan't be trying that trick again. I did end up with two cute mini skeins though. I loved both the merino/seacell and the merino/bamboo. They're both really silky and shiny and I love that shade of blue.



Between all the spinning I've been working on a lace scarf in the Artist's Palette fibre that I finished spinning and plying last weekend.





I've been blocking on the needles as I go to get a better idea of the size of the scarf and how the lace is working out. The stitch pattern is from one of the Harmony guides. I've been wanting to try it out for ages but was intimidated by the 28 row repeat. Turns out it's not so scary once charted and it has a natural scalloped edge - love that! I'm also loving knitting with this handspun, it's really soft and blocks like a dream.

On Saturday we went for a walk around the gardens at Blenheim. Sadly, although I remembered my camera I forgo the the memory card and batteries so I can't show you pictures of the swans with six cygnets that we saw on the way there, or of our latest discovery, the Secret Garden - although I'm not sure that you can really call a garden "secret" when it's both signposted and marked on the map. I'll get pics next time though.

On Sunday we made up for a lazy morning spent knitting (me) and marking proofs (him) whilst listening to The Archers omnibus and watching Andy Murray in the French Open by walking all the way from Wolvercote to Folly Bridge along the Thames and then into Oxford (about 5 and a half miles). We then undid all that good work by diving into a brownie with vanilla icecream at G&Ds - gorgeous!

If you go down to the woods today

Felix and I went on a lovely walk on Bank Holiday Monday.



Felix walking through the very lush and very damp clover meadow.

Felix said that we might see deer in Holton Wood so we took care to be very very quiet as we walked through and saw a grand total of one fawn. Then we walked out of the wood, with voices back at full volume and saw this:



A whole herd of deer - there must have been at least 30 nibbling on the crops at the edge of the field. I managed to snap a couple of pictures from a distance before they got the wind up and headed for the woods.

Mooching

I can't think of a nicer way to spend a lazy Bank Holiday Saturday than a wander around the gardens at Blenheim followed by a cup of tea and slice of cake on the terrace.









I reckon it'll be about a fortnight or so until the roses start opening - I'll keep you posted.

Smells like summer

For me the smell of Soltan is the smell of summer and (hurrah) this weekend has been hot enough so far to have necessitated slapping it on in liberal doses. It hasn't prevented me from going a bit red in places but nothing like the redness incurred whilst playing korfball* around this time last year.

I've been outdoors all day at the OGWSD Art Weeks exhibition spinning and watching other people dyeing and (I have a new hobby) needle felting.



It's great fun except when you stick the needle in your finger - ow! Unlike most fibre-crafts this is not one to do whilst watching the telly. I needle felted some daisies/daffodils onto some purply/red felt and later turned it into a camera case.



Now that I have the basics - a big sponge and a viciously sharp (and barbed) needle - I'm keen to try embellishing lots of other things so don't be surprised if you notice that all my belongings have been customised to within an inch of their lives.

The big event of the day was that Chris and Linda of Red Hill alpacas brought 3 of their herd - Sonita, Amy and Jacita - over to meet us. Everyone was very excited to see the beautiful animals.





No wonder that everyone wants to have their own alpaca - they're just so cuddly. Sadly there's not really room for one on our balcony.

* turns out if you spend all day with one arm in the air looking skywards your neck will turn very red - even with sunscreen.

To my new socks

soft yarn
after ten days
I have socks
Monkeys

Liz Thompson 2009

Hee! Haiku (Haikus?) are fun.



Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: Sweet Feet sock yarn from Artist's Palette yarns
Needles: 2.5mm
Ravelled: here

This makes 8 pairs now - better get working on that button for the sidebar.

On your marks, get set ...

I'm working hard on my preparations for the Great Manchester Run which I'm taking part in this Sunday on behalf of Mind, the leading UK mental health charity. Mind runs helplines, drop-in centres, counselling, and many other services for the 1 in 4 people who are directly affected by mental health problems as well as their families. I'm aiming to raise £150 to help them in their work.

So for training I went for a 6 mile run on Saturday, I biked 8 miles into work this morning, I've got another 6 mile run tomorrow and ... I baked two huge chocolate cakes.



Don't worry, they're not for me. The idea is to get my colleagues in a good mood tomorrow before asking them for sponsorship - I hope it works!

I'm afraid I can't offer chocolate cake to all my online friends (we just don't have that kind of bandwidth) however I do have something to tempt your generosity.

the Grand Prize



Clockwise from top left: hand-made (by me) pincushion, 1 skein Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn in Dusk, hand-made cupcake badge from Sumptuosity of York, 2 skeins Misti Alpaca Laceweight in Merlot, hand-crocheted (not by me) flower brooch, and finally a copy of Alterknits by Leigh Radford.

All you have to do to win all these knitterly goodies is to sponsor me online at http://my.artezglobal.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=260979 (secure online donation site) and then send an email to thomasinaknits AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk to let me know you have done so. Once the sponsorship deadline has passed I will draw one winner from the emails.

Competition officialness

1. The competition will close on June 17th 2009. This is the day by which all sponsorship money has to be submitted. The drawing will be on June 18th 2009.

2. I will assign each entrant a number according to the order in which I received their email. The winner will then be chosen using a random number generator.

3. I will contact the winner by email after the drawing to find out their postal details. I am happy to post to anywhere in the world.

Finally, if you have blogs of your own I'd be really grateful if you could send people this way. All this lovely stash has got to go!

Train essentials

I tend to bitch a little bit when confronted with a train journey that takes an hour longer than usual due to "essential rail maintenance" but really there's a lot to be said for a journey that takes 6 hours door-to-door. All that concentrated knitting time does wonders for progress.

These are my train "essentials". OK they're luxuries really but I find they're what I need to spend the best part of the day on the West Coast mainline without getting too wound-up.



Please note how my train essentials are colour coordinated. They even matched my raspberry coloured cardigan (although not the white t-shirt, at least not until I dropped a blodge of cherry yoghurt onto it).

Cold drink: at the moment I really like M&S's not-from-concentrate apple and mango. It even counts as one of my 5-a-day too.

Greek style yoghurt with cherry compote: my absolute favourite thing. I am constitutionally unable (it would appear) to pass a Simply Food M&S without buying one of these. I don't think this counts as one of my 5-a-day.

Hot drink: tea from Costa. I admit that £1.60 is a ridiculous mark-up on a cup of tea but I do like that Costa charge the same amount for their large tea as they do for the small. It's only extra hot water after all.

iPod: in very worn Kid Classic case (must make new one). I tend to listen to audio books, podcasts and radio dramas rather than music as I find them more absorbing which seems to make the journey pass more quickly. Hurrah for BBC radio 7 (this week I will be mostly listening to Cold Comfort Farm). Yesterday I was listening to Sparkling Cyanide (a pressie from Felix) which was still going strong when I reached my front door.

Knitting: Hedera by Cookie A. This pattern is working up just as quickly as Monkey. Must be the Cookie A. magic.

Sitting in a comfy chair with a cup of tea, an audio book, a yummy yoghurt and my knitting, watching sunlit countryside flash by. It's almost the perfect Sunday afternoon.

Slight change of plan

I got this far with the Sacre du Printemps socks before deciding that the gauge (even after going up a needle size) was far too tight. I still want to knit this pattern (albeit with finer sock yarn) but for the moment - riiiiiip.

It only took a few minutes on Ravelry to find the perfect alternative pattern, Hedera. It's pretty, straightforward, another Cookie A. pattern and it was even originally knit in Rowan 4-ply soft.



I've been wanting to knit this pattern for ages, ever since receiving a pair for Sockapalooza 4 and even more so after seeing Megan's. Once I've completed these and the current pair of Monkeys my sock drawer should be fully replenished and I can maybe get on with a bit of Christmas sock knitting - less than 8 knitting months to go, guys!

At last she recollected that they had been travelling ...

I don't really have a very connected post about our weekend in Derbyshire but I thought I'd share a few of my favourite photos.

On Sunday we went for a walk on the moors. This is my second attempt at this photo, on the first one the camera was being blown about so much that the boyfriend ended up half out of shot. Note the yellow GPS device. Useful for knowing how far you've gone, how far you still have to climb and, most importantly, keeping the bloke amused when his legs start to get tired.



"the wild and untamed beauty of the peaks" I suspect that that's a quote from the 1995 BBC adaptation of P&P rather than from the novel itself (which I don't have to hand) but it's rather fitting nonetheless. View from Axe Edge moor.



Goldfish in the Buxton Pavilion where we went for a late lunch after our walk. I was a bit underwhelmed by Buxton itself (although our B&B was gorgeous) but the pavilion and the gardens are very nice. I really like the way that the fish which were the intended target of the photo are so much less distinct than the reflections on the water.



Hello Pemberley (aka Chatsworth). You can't (at least I can't) go to Derbyshire without visiting at least one of the Pemberleys (the other one is Lyme Park over near Stockport). You can't access the steps on the left which featured quite heavily in the film as they're roped off, probably because otherwise there'd be a constant stream of Elizabeth Bennet wannabees posing on them and no one would be able to get past.



Fancy pants chickens at Chatsworth. We met these hens just wandering around the gardens having engineered a bold escape from the hen run. You can't see it very well in this photo but they really do have feathery trousers.



Sleeping lion in the sculpture gallery at Chatsworth. I think this guy had a bit part in Pride & Prejudice. They still have the resin bust of Matthew McFadyen there as part of the Chatsworth in film exhibition but I felt that taking a photo of that would be a bit fangirly. I did do a genuine double take when I saw it though.

Twelve Monkeys?

Given that I'm now at seven and a half pairs I might as well go the whole hog. Now I just need to sort out a blog button and hope that knitting 12 Monkeys doesn't actually bring on the apocalypse.



Having made that pledge I am taking a little break from the all Monkey diet with this charming pattern.



It's quite exciting to be knitting a sock where you actually have to read the instructions for the toe. I'm knitting them in super squishy Rowan 4-ply soft. A bit too plain for Monkeys but perfect for the delicate cables in this pattern.

Must knit more Monkeys

According to Ravelry this is my seventh pair of Monkeys and I've just cast on (by which I mean I'm five repeats down the leg) pair number eight. It's like a sickness.



Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: Undyed sockyarn from Blue faced byed by me using Super Cook
Needles: 2.5mm
Mods: none - why mess with perfection?
Ravelled: here

These were my travelling socks for our trip to Derbyshire (check out the photos on flickr) last weekend and they were just perfect. The pattern is compelling enough to make the miles in the car just fly by* but memorable enough that you don't have to juggle a chart as well as the map and so readable that you never lose your place. You can knit them whilst walking around, whilst waiting to be served in the restaurant, whilst watching a film in French with subtitles**. They're like the Swiss Army knife of socks, handy in all situations.

Which is why I grafted together the toe of the seventh pair and immediately started the long tail cast on for the eighth.



I think I love these even more! The colourway just screams summer. It's the colour of sorbet and azalea bushes and rose gardens. I feel warmer just looking at them.

* I tried to tell the boyfriend how utterly satisfying it is when you get to the last row of the lace repeat and make the last two purl stitches disappear but I don't think he quite got it.

** If you haven't seen Priceless yet I beg you to - I loved it!