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Friday 19 September 2008

Tired

so, so tired.

I've loads to blog about: my lovely shipment from the Woolmeise Sock Club (I got that last week but have been putting off opening it until I had finished both my Smackdown sock and my Hat Attack hat; I've got the delights of my 'new to me' yarn twister and baller; I was going to pattle about my recently discovered stack of random needles - see loads of kntting things but I am so tired that I am going to leave it.

I'm off to the sunny (I hope) climes of Skye, Scotland tomorrow so will be gone for a few days. Then I can tell you all and hopefully I'll have a few more things to blather about.

Thursday 18 September 2008

Hurrah Hurrah Hurrah and other general merry making


It took me longer than I thought but it was an okay pattern. I'm not a fan of ribbing and this was just one big old version of ribbing but I have finished it and tomorrow it will be sent off to see if it can reach my target before I am killed. I had a look on the spreadsheet of death and it seems that my assasin is in the UK so I could well be dead very soon.

The hat took just under 2 balls of the Fairytale Dream for Me DK - but I was a bit worried so pop into Coles on the way back from work to pick up another ball of each. Luckily I can take it back and might swap it.

Tuesday 16 September 2008

Gearing up

Hat Attack starts today and the pattern gets released some time between 2 and 8pm EST. So I worked that out and it seems that I won't be knitting hatty death until, at the earliest, 7 or 8pm (never could work out differing forms fo daylight saving).

Anyway I swatched using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran but it came out well over tension, when I dropped a couple of needle sizes I got the gauge but the fabric felt like card - I had lost off the squidginess of the yarn. So I thought next about using a thicker double knit and got some Patons Fairytale Colour Me DK and it seems to have worked out fine. Started with 4mm needels and a circuler swatch but it came up a bit large so ahave dropped a needle size and think that I've got it pretty much perfect.

I have my target's info but I think that I'll stay anonymous for a while to see how the competition goes. But she will have a hat of green and blue - perfect spring colours in those cold Canadian winter months.

Friday 12 September 2008

Rant Alert - Rant Alert

This is going to be a rant so if you are easily offended by people having an opinion then please look away now.

Okay. . . so I have been battling away in Summer 2008 Yarn Smackdown and it's a well orgainised contest with loads going on.

I started on the start day on the 8th August and started knitting a pair of purple Starry Starry Night Socks. It took me a while to really get going as I was not feeling upto par and a few other things went a bit tits up so I didn't knock them out with my usualy gusto. I even thought about pulling out of the contest but things changed and I began to feel better so got the socks finished on August 23rd and posted off to my target the next day.

Hurrah hurrah I had finished without getting killed myself.

So I wait for my SIPs to be shuttled back to me, ready for me to kill again. I have no word from her, no registration of death, nothing. Then I get a letter saying that she's going to resurect herself as a zombie but isn't sending me the yarn as she's going to use it to kill her target. So I email her and say that the rules say the SIPs or the yarn comes to me so I can carry on in the game. I contacted the organiser who says that I can start with my own yarn or wait for hers but gives me my next target's dossier. So I pick the pins again and start to knit the second pair.

Again I hear nothing from my original target, so last week I emailed asking her to register her death, but hear nothing back. I know that people have different ideas of how these games should be played but I thought that this was just a bit off.

Now comes the big rant bit

So last night I got home and then was a parcel crammed through the letterbox - you've gotta love posties ;o) - and inside there was the yarn from my original target. It is awful: horrible, nasty, plastic and acrylic. It creaks when you move it. You could use it to stick babies to the ceiling with there's that much static coming from it. Wearing socks made from it and you'd probably be able to power your computer just by rubbing your feet together. It's BAD.



I know that not everyone can afford lovely yarns - times are hard and we are all feeling the pinch. But there are loads of good, basic and well priced yarns out there. I think that she just grabbed something 4 ply ish from her stash, bundled it into the envelope had done with it but this stuff is just blurgh!

But the main thing was that in the note she sent with it she didn't see why she should send the yarn and that she had looked and said that it said nothing in the rules. But it's really clear and questions from people new to these knitting battles are invariably about who do they send their WIPs to. She bascially got a nicely knitted pair of sock to her size, in a nice colour from decent yarn and then thinks that she doesn't have to send anything in return.

GGGRRRRHHHHHH, yeah fine, just expect me to knit for a complete stranger who then decides your time and effort isn't even worth a decent yarn in return to battle again with!!

OOOOoooo - I am so peeved

Thursday 11 September 2008

I am dead

Well Smackdown Scarf dead - many thanks to my lovely target Sephiroth who killed me with a lovely soft greyish scarf. I'll put some photos up later but the snaps I took last night seemed to feature my double chins more than I thought appropriate (it's not that kind of blog) so I shall take some more this evening with the camera on the tripod and see if they are any better.

Now there is the delightful chase of trying to hunt down WIPs and who they need to get to. I have contacted my target, but she is also dead so hopefully she can get in touch with her assasin to get her to send the WIPs scarf back to my assasin's assasin as Sephiroth is also dead. It can get very complicated - how does Helen (the boss of smackdown) keep it organised?

I'm still in with the socks and stole but oh dear, oh dear, oh dear am I having problems with the darned stole. I managed to mess the repeat up in two lovely ways and didn't spot it until I had added another 3" to the stole. Not only did I manged it across the row, I also managed to knit the same row three times. Obviously I cannot knit lace with slidey yarn and do anything else. No tv, no radio, no talking of any kind. The strange thing is, is that I have actually got the pattern in my head so don't need the chart or text. I just need to concentrate more.

Anyway . . . the socks are going well and I might have them finished in time for posting off on Saturday so that's nice.

Tuesday 9 September 2008

Things aren't going well

The smackdown stole is never going to be finished - it's conspiring against me.

Last night I had to start again as I managed, not only to pull off the stitches from the needle but also managed to lose about 100 of the little blighters. Okay I know there are only 75 on the pattern but I thought that I should really start again. Grrrhhh!!!

Oh and I know that I said that I wouldn't have more than 25 things in my Ravelry queue but I have just added Fetching as my friend Sarah wants a pair so she can take photos without freezing her hands. I've already got the yarn in my stash so it'll just be a quick project once I have finished the socks for smackdown. Perhaps they will be a bus project (until Hat Attack starts)

Wednesday 3 September 2008

Things do do (knitting)

Perhaps I need to get more organised so I thought that if I had a list of things that I should be knitting or at least finishing it should give me time to get it all done. I am not a miracle worker when it comes to knitting and although I can knit quickly, it can still be more interesting to start a new project than finish up an old one. I realised that my queue list on Ravelry was becoming unmanageable and unknittable so have started a process of rationalising it. Everything that I have queued is going into my favourites and then I am going to have a maximum of 25 things in my queue so I have a choice of things but only once I have finished them then will more be added. I can see me having thousands and thousands of favourites but I do like many many things so this isn't a problem.

So the list of WIPs - this includes those that are slumbering and hibernating (I'll add photos, possibly, when I get round to it)
  • Grey Socks - these only need the very point of the toe to get them done and dusted but I lost the pattern and got excited about my Jaywalkers. I shall make them the priority as they could probably be done in an evening if I just GOT ON WITH IT!!!!
  • Topsecret - I love this, the colour is great, I really enjoyed knitting it, it knits really quickly but I got a bit unstuck when it came to the decreases after the arms. I took off too many too quickly and it looked odd and certainly didn't fit. I have to frog back to joining the arms again and start over but really it might take a long weekend and it should be done. Perhaps it's the project for the next weekend I have without my lovely man - it will keep me entertained and I will have another project off the list.
  • Striped Scallop Throw - just finish it. Perhaps I need to knit half an hour of this a day and it will get gone.
  • Fluffy - I started this and now have a person who wants it, I just have to finish it off, perhaps a couple of nights maximum. If I can remember the pattern - mind you I was just making it up so it shouldn't be too difficult to get it sorted.
  • Jaywalkers - these were started and one was completely finished and then I got sidetracked and started the second one. But never finished. I'd say a week of bus knitting should sort it out.
  • BFF - again a half finished pair of socks, but again a week of bus knitting and it should be done.
  • I Do shrug - this was meant to be for a friend and also my Tour de France KAL project but I managed to not finish it. I ran out of yarn and then the shop didn't have any more and I had to wait and then I got distracted and never went back to it.
So I have quite a list of things that need finishing - and that doesn't include those that I have already on the pins: Orange Boheme, Helena, Smackdown socks and Smackdown stole. Will I get them done? Of course I can and of course I will. No more things until I have them cracked.

Except the Aran that I am going to be knitting for my man's xmas present. He has been waiting for a couple of years so I really should get round to it.

Death is coming

But it's not all doom and gloom - my assasin for the Smackdown Scarf event has been in touch and I am on my way out. She did say that it might be a couple of weeks so I might get my grubby hands on another scarf before I die but since that one will also likely to be coming from overseas I think in reality that I'll die with just the one scarf kill to my name.

In a way that's a good thing and it will give me time to concentrate on other knitting project. I'm having a crack at Hat Attack this year. I don't tend to knit hats very often (if at all unless is is for a battle) but like the idea so will give it a go. I also want to get some of my old sleeping WIPs sorted out, and then there is the xmas knitting to sort too. I think that I am going to knit a few presents this year but I am making no promises as I get side tracked so easily.

Tuesday 2 September 2008

On the Pins

So, at the moment I have 4 things that are being tinkered with.

A pair of lace socks - these are for Summer Yarn Smackdown. They are being knitted in Cygnet Wool Rich 4 ply which is a good solid sock yarn. It might not have the jiggery pokeries of some of the lovely colours and textures but it washes well and is hard wearing and I kind of like having solid colours to use too.


I am also playing with Helena - this is being knitted from the remnants of some Sirdar Salsa. I started ages ago to use this yarn for a cardigan but lost the pattern and my way so I decided to reknit a toddlers jacket for my friend's daughter. I really like to blue. I have modified it slightly as I didn't want it to be too long so left off the last set of pattern repeats. I'm also going to add buttons rather then the ties. I hope that she likes it.

There is also a Boheme but I'm not entirely sure who it is for. I got all excited as my cousin and his wife recently had another child and I thought that I would knit it for her but it is coming out huge. Mind you I am knitting it in an aran weight Finnish yarn - Novita Spektri Plus. This yarn was sent to me in a swap and Ireally like the texture of it. The colour is a little bit patchy for my taste but i think that it is knitting up very well. I have modified the arms slightly as I cast off with the picot edging that will be done for the hem too. Perhaps the sprog will grow into it.

And lastly I have the Summer Yarn Snackdown stole on the go. This seems to be taking ages even to do a small amount. The yarn is Sirdar Silky Look and it's a nice slinky yarn so I think that it is going to work well as a stole. Hopefully I can finish it before I get assainated by stole myself.

Monday 1 September 2008

Death to Kaphine

In the nicest possible way of course. I have finished, blocked and posted off the lace scarf for the Summer Yarn Smackdown and it is soon to be flying away to the west.

I started with some yarn from my stash that I now recognise to be some of the ugliest yarn in creation. Brown is not a lacy colour anyway but it was just horrible, although it knitted up and showed the pattern well enough it was just wrong.



So I started again - hunting through the stash for something light and fluffy and fun and arrived at some Rowan Kidsilk Haze in pink. Hey presto! a lovely flightly scarf began to take shape and I am quite pleased at how it turned out. Normally I don't block things for these knitting battles but the scarf looked so much better for it and it didn't delay anything so Kaphine now gets a lovely scarf (well I hope that she thinks it's lovely) that is ready to wear.

Startings - again

This is going to be a much better blog - I like the name more already. I did have another blog that I have kept as an archive here but from now on I shall be listing everything on this one.

I am going to manly be chatting about my knitting experiences but also about my attempts to open an online store selling my vintage knitting patterns (I've also got one for postcards if anyone if interested). I'll also be prattling about my life every now and again. I'm not a terribly public person - although some might say I have exhibitionist tendencies but that's another story all together, but I am bit freaked by those blogs that give every little details.

I'm going to up date my ever growing list of WIPs (curses to Ravelry), probably on a weekly basis and possibly on a Tuesday, but there is one of those little gadget, widget things from Rav that has my wips (and that looks wrong in lower case) so that will give a more detailed list.

I am financially stuck at the moment (big time) so I shall be trying to not spend money and knit from the stuff I have in my stash so that'll be a challenge of it's own. Once I am in balance more with the cash I can see that I'm going to have to be really disciplined or it's all going to go tits up again.