SnB bank holiday weekend meet up
We meet up the last Saturday of every month for the
StitchNBitchIE, and this months happened to fall on a bank holiday weekend. Decided to go ahead with it anyway as there were enough people interested.
We meet in the Library Bar of the Central Hotel and the last meeting, the place was packed out, we managed to steal enough chairs and position ourselves near the bar (for the soft drinks only of course) but
Sharon had to keep moving her chair to let people through, and I reckon there were about 12-15 of us there.
This time, there were 6 of us, and I think we shared the bar with another 4 people, and that number wasn't consistent. The place was so quiet it was unbelievable. Apart from the man who sounded like the rats from the movie Chicken Run, as Cheryl described!
This time, I brought my camera. I meant to do it on the last occasion and for some reason left it at home, but think it may have been a good move as there were a lot of faces I wasn't familiar with the last meeting so I probably wouldn't have gotten the courage to take it out and take photos of total strangers to me.
So here we are, I was going to post lots of pictures but due to the length of time its taking me to put them up, I have narrowed it down to the 2 that I did manage to upload!. Has anyone else been having these problems with uploading photos to blogger or is it just me???
I think if you click on the pictures you can see bigger versions
I will post the rest of them tomorrow as it may be the PC Im working on.
On the left here we have
Isobel showing Holly her mitred squares and gave a very good discription of how they work.
On the right we have
Sharon,
Isobel
and Holly who had to take up their knitting and pretend they were knitting away on my request.
If you have a close look at the photo above, on the table, there are a few skeins of Holly's hand-dyed and handspun yarn. Mmmmmm gorgeous! She brought along skeins of merino, shetland and a wool blend. All very yummy.
I will post again about these with a close up picture and I will post with more pictures from the meeting also, have to go, this post has been almost 3 days in formation!!! (All due to problems with uploading photos)
Cartoon knitting
I know, 2 posts in one day, and Im so busy.
You HAVE to take some time out to look at
This.
Knitting has hit the cartoon world, YAYYYY
FO..finally
Yes, I know, its been a long time coming, but I have eventually finished my first pair of socks!
The second one has been in my handbag for I would say as long as 2 months, and transported between handbags also! After the last posting where I said I would be putting baby knits on hold for a while in order to finish off what I already had on the needles, I started immediately into the sock, and actually put the bootees on hold until I finished it! And yes, I know that the pattern isn't even, I continued on with the same ball of yarn for the second pair. If you look at the photo above and shift the one on the bottom up slightly, you can see where they match.
For anyone wondering (like in
StitchNBitchIE) I used mainly one ball of yarn for the 2 socks. Again if you look at the photo above, you can see where the second ball came into play. So I have enough left over to play with baby socks!! Not now though, I'm sick of the pattern.
Here we have the standard finished sock pose, loved by many, posed by few
So the next WIP to be finished is going to be the bootees, which I will get done tonight. And then I will turn to the other UFO's I have hanging around (except maybe River).
One of the reasons that I so wanted to finish the socks, was actually to start another pair, can you believe! But this time in a non-self patterning yarn, and with a bit more variation than stocking stitch, it got a bit boring just going around and around and around with no thought for pattern.
I also wouldn't choose this yarn again. It was Sirdar Town and Country.
In retrospect, I don't really like the pattern that it creates, I'm more into plain colours or stripes, and I reckon that half the time I spent knitting the pair was actually taken up in detangling the yarn as it seemed to rub against each other and fuse to the next strand. Veyr frustrating indeed!
Again in retrospect, I would have pre-wound the yarn into a manageable cake, but then again I didnt have my magic yarn winder when I started!
Despite this, I'm keen to start another pair, using a plain colour, not for myself, and watch this space...
So, on that note, I will leave you with a picture of this morning, at approx 7am, when I was just about to leave the house for work....
I had to try them out!
Happy Flowers
Just something nice for you to look at!
Happy Wednesday
Mmmmm, more please!
Banana Bread ala
Avoca Cafe Cookbook
This is a tried and tested recipe with me, I have made it on many occasions. It is moist and decadent and always produces a "mmmm" sound from anyone eating it for the first time.
I made this to bring it in for my work colleagues for their coffee break today.
It is even easier and quicker to make since I discovered the benefits of using my food processor to chop things!!
Bootees still need sewing up as you can see!
My friend who had her baby, last week asked me to make a hat and bootee set for a friend of hers who had also just had a baby boy. She wanted the same colours as the ones I had made her but I havent been able to get to the shop that I bought the yarn in, so I have done these up and hopefully they will be okay! If not, I'll get to the yarn shop this weekend.
Now these bootees are actually a size 0-3 months and they are looking pretty small. I'd done the first one before I realised that I had done a larger size for M's baby. I am in the process of doing the larger size and will have them for her by the weekend when I'll get the chance to see her.
After these bootees are done, I'm going to put baby knits on hold for a while as I have many things I want to do and so little time!!
I think I should try and finish a few things first before starting others....
These boots are made for crawling...
Please ignore the red chin and the double chin and the glazed look on my face.
This posting is about this angel of a baby boy and the magnificant way he modelled those bootees and hat!
Very good for a 6day old.
His Mum is delighted with them, and has requested a set for a friend of hers....guess what will be the agenda for this evening! sad I know...
He is a gorgeous baby and we had a lot of cuddles when we were there.
Now to the knitting....
Short post, I know, but I'm having trouble again uploading photos and not in the form to battle for another half an hour just to get one more photo up!
Feet ...in more than one size
I have been lax in posting this last week.
Mainly due to a lack of an available PC, also due to lending my Mum my camera, and then suffering withdrawal symptoms without it!
But I am now back on track, and now have to sort through the photo’s I have taken in order not to have photo overload.
First of all we have my Mum’s birthday present- the fuzzy feet
I’m not too sure if she really liked them but time will tell.
They were drying on the radiator after she opened the packaging as when I got home from work I steamed the hell out of them to try and stretch them before bringing them up to Mum’s.
She also got 2 free apples (kept in the toes to keep the shape while drying!)
One of my friends had her baby on Thursday, a boy, 7lbs 6ozs, and I will be seeing her this evening in order to give her and him these
Can you see how small this is!
And can you see the little hearts on it?
I also made some little shoes to match, before I knew that it was a little boy, but I think they are a bit too girly even for an infant boy to pull off!
I have enough friends pregnant at the moment to get a girl out of one of them for these lol!!
Remember these?
These are for my friend also. Believe it or not, they are actually the same size, although they don’t look like it in this photo. They are funky baby, for a funky babe.
Okay, on to the science bit.
Pattern Hat: Made with love Layette
Sticks: Size 4 dpn’s to start off with and then swapped to size 4 40cm addi circs (found them actually easy to use on such a small project compared to previous attempts to use them)
Yarn: Wendy Peter Pan DK
Pattern Bootee’s and Shoes: Peter Pan Baby Accessories (bought in Australia in 1997). Icord for the tie for the bootees.
Sticks: Can’t quite recall but I think around size 2.5 straight needles.
Yarn: Wendy Peter Pan DK (pure coincidence that I happened to buy the same yarn as the pattern asked for)
Pattern: Fuzzy Feet
Sticks: 6.5mm dpn’s
Yarn: Lopi Lite
Felting: 1 run through the machine at 50 degrees
Remember my 2 needle socks from Debbie Bliss (posting Wednesday March 8th, can't seem to link to it)
The white ones are in here:
For a work colleague who also had a baby boy last week.
Blogger has been painful in uploading photos. I actually drafted this post yesterday and couldn't upload one photo. I have managed to get them up through sheer determination this morning.
I visited new Mum last night and have photos of baby modelling hat and bootees, but they can wait for another post! (or battle with blogger as I like to call it)
Tea for Me and choccie for Sunday...
Finally, finally finally I have pictures of the gifts that my BF brought me back from Amsterdam, and yes, the chocolate is still in one piece…just about.
I had a good sniff of it last night as I have read that smelling chocolate is
supposed to do the same thing as actually eating it, but I don’t quite believe it meself!
Endorphins, that’s all.
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro04/web1/kcoveleskie.html
I did a bit of research into endorphins created by chocolate and got some very interesting results. Still, there is only 4 days to go until choccie can pass my lips….
Hmm
I got to test the teapot last night and I can confirm that it makes a good pot of tea. Always a plus for a teapot. Its amazing the amount of teapots out there that
don’t make a good pot of tea. However, I think I will have to just use teabags in this pot as there is no filter in the spout, I can imagine the mess if I use tealeaves.
Isn’t the lid sweet?
And look at the flower on the spout.
I also finished the fuzzy foot partner last night after a lot of sweat and tea and threw them into the washing machine to run a cycle overnight. This was based on the very practical thinking of the last item I felted which required I think 4 go’s through the washing machine. I came down this morning to find them felted nicely, down to a size 2 I reckon. A wee bit small!
So a serious amount of stretching later, I think I have them about a size 5, and have an apple in each toe and one tennis ball in a heel as that’s all I had to play with (get it, play, tennis ball…. oh okay bad play on words har har).
I think this evening I will be doing a bit (or a lot) of steaming and stretching again.
Have a look at the FO’s
And modelled by yours truly, as my former aspiring model had gone to bed at this stage.
It was late after all; the demonic aspect of having to finish an item took me over again.
Sunny Saturday
The one and only picture I got in the sunny part of Saturday before the batteries in my camera died.
Its of the Sugarloaf mountain taken from the car on the way back from Bray, where we went to look at a car and had a quick stop into The Wool Shop for yet more sock yarn and then a lovely interlude in the coffee shop beside it. Again I thought of taking pictures like
Isobel does but there was too much crap on the small table (like one paper, 1 bagel, 1 foccacia, 2 lattes and 2 raspberry muffins-yummy!) and it would have looked a mess, not like the nicely artistic shots that
Isobel produces. I also bought some choccy in prep for next Sunday (see prev postings!) although not for myself ;-)
I also didn’t realise that the batteries were so low, but they are rechargeable so it’s not a big thing. Despite the sunniness of the day, (at that time) it was very cold.
I actually think that this picture reminds me of Australia, for some strange reason…. have any thoughts on this, Emmett or Siobhan in Canberra…hmm?
My PC went through the final death throes yesterday evening and abandoned me, so I now have to think about financing another one. I have been thinking about it for a while anyway as my PC had been so slow that using it was akin to torture. Not to mention trying to upload photos to blogger, just didn’t happen. However, my budget just doesn’t stretch to a PC outright so I will either have to try and get finance for it or wait until the trusty SSIA’s come out next year. Yes, I was one of those that jumped at the chance at saving money and made it by the skin of my teeth by the closing date. I suppose I do have the option of waiting as my boyfriend’s PC is pretty good, and I can always do some things from work, but there’s always that bit of work that you can’t just do from work, especially as a lot of websites are blocked.
Meanwhile we have knitting:
I realised last night that my Mums birthday is THIS Wednesday and here I was thinking I had another week to finish the second fuzzy foot and felt them both.
I was also hoping to get a pot holder for her done to match the tea cosy I made for her previously but I don’t think I’ll get it done in time, as I was going to felt that also.
I cast on for the 2nd fuzzy foot last night just before I went to bed
Here we have a nicely and very professionally modelled shot of the finished fuzzy foot, by an unknown up and coming sock model that shall remain nameless.
And look how pretty this is when it’s wound up properly using the ball winder?
It’s Noro Blossom for my Hemp Blossom Bag. Just had to show y’all!
Sniffing Yarn
Yes, I admit it, I'm a yarn sniffer.
If I have a nice ball of yarn in my hand, I automatically go to have a sniff, although I don't always follow through with it if there are other people near me, I'm a bit self-concious like that!
Button above is courtesy of
Grumperina and I now need to find out how to put it on my sidebar. I'll look into that at the weekend (along with numerous other things that I put off until the weekend and then put off until the next weekend, and carry forward until it actually gets done, or I forget about it)
Meanwhile, we have fuzzy foot number one:
Which is a work in progress alright, juggled with the others on the sidebar there.
I tried to take a picture of the Lopi Tote but it just looked like a jumble of knitting on the circular needle, so I had to abandon it. It'll be another posting!
The River wrap from Rowan 38, I have it at 1% on the sidebar, this is because I have literally only cast on and done 2 rows! Its very fine yarn (kidsilk haze) and with such large needles, I struggled to get that far. It may be frogged at some stage as my enthusiasm for it has gone totally already :(
But I'm making good progress on baby items, I have made some lovely baby shoes and currently making bootees to match, and am just waiting to sew on the buttons on the shoes before taking pictures and posting them.
Outside of knitting, I made some lasagne last night for dinner which went down very well with my bf and myself and there was enough left over to put in the freezer for another dinner.
I also bought my bf his Easter egg, and its now hidden so I he can't get his hands on it until Easter Sunday.
I may be making another tripto the shop as my choccie urgings are increasing and not decreasing, as I thought they would, and I will be looking to have a choccie feast in exactly 9 days time!!!
As well as the tulips from Amsterdam, my bf bought me some Dutch choccie and a teapot (I like my teapots!) and they are currently in his place so no chance to take pics as yet, but again for another posting! The choccie is also (perhaps?) safe in his place.....although choccie has been known to disappear quite frequently there....hmm, maybe I should take it into safe keeping....just in case the choccie monster appears....although he has been doing very well...
And we have Tulips from Amsterdam!
Aren't they lovely?
Antics in Dublin
While out with friends for a meal during the week, we became (probably through giddiness) absorbed by this plant.
Was it a tomato plant?
Was it an orange tree?
Was it real?
Was it decorative only?
The leaves didn’t look like tomato plant leaves, we had a couple of expert growers in the group, and the fruit looked suspiciously orange-like.
We were a little bit away and there were people sitting at the table beside it so we didn’t really want to disturb them.
The people at the table left, and one of our group managed to tip over and find out that it was a real plant, with soil and everything.
Then we asked the waiter, and low and behold, he went and picked one of the fruits and brought it to us, and yes, it was real, orange-like colouring, and, wait for it…a mini orange. Or clementine or mandarin whatever those small ones are called.
Classy shot showing Bus Eireann bus behind Le Waiter
We even had some tasting to make sure.
(Photo’s have been censured as are of a sensitive nature)
(Actually, I didn’t want to publish photo’s of friends without asking them and I know if I ask there will be horror at the very thought of their photo’s on the internet)
It was a lovely meal, and a lovely evening, albeit chilly after the sun went in, and we decided to go for a nightcap before hitting the road home, as it was a school night.
We went to this converted church and managed to find some plush seating on the alter, no less!
Or the former alter….View from our plushness
The lovely stairwell going upstairs to the loo
More red wine later, I was soon snoozing on the bus on the way home.
The gathering of more stash...
Cheryl and I made a trip down to Rathmore in Kildare last Thursday. I was taking advantage of having a day off and doing something just for me.
We met with Jenny and Warren, who run Craftspun Yarns. They are a lovely couple, and their house and environment is just lovely, I would so love to live in such a place! There were 2 cats, one snoozing on the kitchen chair and the other one energetically jumping onto Jenny’s shoulders, 2 dogs outside, one at the front and one spotted out the back garden, and chickens and a rooster clucking away in the back garden and from their roost out the front.
Their studio is to the front/side of the house and this is where all the selling and office work seems to take place. They have shelves full of the most wonderful delights, and it was impossible to make my mind up what to take away with me.
I finally decided on some of their homespun wools, which are amazing colours and feel fantastic, and some of their Kilcarra Aran wool and Kilcarra Alpaca wool.
I also bought a Royal ball winder from them after spotting a couple of them lurking on the shelf. Cheryl also has one of these, as does Sharon.
I have absolutely NO idea what I’m going to use these yarns for…. yet…. but at the moment they are sitting on my kitchen table and I have a little drool over them every time I go by. I must dry them before knitting with them…
Next time I make it down; I plan on buying some of their cotton/linen blend, as it is also fantastic. Jenny was showing us some of the projects she is working on using the cotton/linen blend and it knits up really nicely. Jenny has been asked by Naas library to hold a knitting group there and she is going to start doing that. Hopefully there will be an evening slot sometime that I can attend also!
And I must admit that I have been using the ball winder for anything I can get my hands on since, I'm even winding balls of wool that don't particularly need winding, cos it looks nice when its done!
How much can I post in one day?
My weblog owns 37.5 % of me.
Does your weblog own you?
Wow, surprising result. I thought it would be higher, but I suppose that I don't know a lot of bloggers personally and that would have an impact on the result. Not that I'm not trying to get friends to get their own blogs, but it would make things easier! ;)
Actually, most of my friends either don't own a PC or are not sure how to work the mouse...only joking, I'm sure they do, but as they don't work in the area of IT, they haven't got as much interest in it as I do.
So, 3 posts in one day, I'm making up for lost time eh!
My bf was on an overnight work trip to Amsterdam on Sunday/Monday and says he has brought me tulips home, bless, he's a pet. I'm meeting him after work before meeting up with the girls for an early bird.
I wonder do they have nice chocolate in Amsterdam, I can't remember from the last time I was there and I (in fact we) have been off chocolate for Lent, and its KILLING me! I went off alcohol for the month of January and it didnt have this much impact on me> I must be addicted! To chocolate that is. I almost crumbled on Friday night, I have some in my fridge and it was staring at me (or was I staring at it?) and willing me to pick it up and eat it. I backed away as quickly as I was able, which wasn't very quick, and managed to prise my hand off the fridge door after a few hours. So thankfully, none passed my lips. I think I went for wine instead ;)
So, I have sent my info to the hostesses of SP8 and will hopefully hear back from them soon.
Secret Pal8
Oh my oh my
I'm so excited!
SP8 has started signing up participants
Count me in! I'm there!
(Must start posting about more than just knitting!)
Hidden treasures
Its amazing what is found when you go searching for something altogether different.
I found this scarf when I was hunting for patterns that I had lost. I had totally forgotten about it. I started it when I was in London, for a friend, after I had made a scarf using one of the Rowan patterns from the previous entry. With the first scarf I used the recommended yarn, which was awkward to use with the pattern. So I decided to use a different yarn for this scarf. Of course, it didn't turn out as well and it just never grew on me. I never checked my gauge in those days, just cast on and hoped for the best.
So this lovely yarn is now recycled and ready to be used again. Well, its frogged and waiting to be washed.....
In the meantime- we have bootees!
I'm waiting to be loved....
Still alive and kicking!
Hello
Im still here, I haven't disappeared, just haven't been near a PC for a few days.
Have plenty of photo's and stories, and would probably be able to post every day if I let myself! And if I had the time.... :(
I'll leave you with this photo. I found a load of Vogue Knitting and Rowan magazines that I had bought when I was living in London. The earliest Rowan one is issue no. 20, there are 4 Rowan mag's and I think 13 Vogue Knitting mags in total. I remember thinking the Rowan mags were expensive at the time. I think they cost £6.95 or something. They cost a lot more now.
You should see some of the style though!!
and Holly who had to take up their knitting and pretend they were knitting away on my request.
