What I've been doing lately... again.

It has been a while, hasn't it? I apologise. I've been under the weather. Had a ton of work to do. The ususal. A lot has happened, but sadly it is getting to that time of year when I have to be a bit careful and not tell you about any Christmas presents I'm making.

First up in things that have progressed is Lauriel. Look, she's almost there! Cardigan-shaped! Sleeves! Can actually try it on!

Sadly, the next thing is picking up for the button bands when there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth so I have been procrastinating that.

Next on the list is some gloves to match a hat (Woolly Wormhead's QL Slouch) from the remaining yarn. Since I loved knitting the hat and I generally love knitting mittlets, they knit up a treat.

Don't get too attached though. They're being frogged as I'm a) 1g short of yarn to do the second one and b) they're a little tight. Attempts to acquire more yarn have so far failed. A G&T tonight and they will be frogged, to wait for a day with more decisive-ness.

I also had a minor disaster with a sock (the fab self-striping ones photographed poorly here). Just turned the heel, popped it in my handbag to do on the bus and horror of horrors- one dpn has pulled out completely. The one with all the heel stitches on. So now I need to rescue that and crack on with it.

So, after having a few minor knitting disasters this week, I knitted a hat for this poor fellow over the weekend.

It is a very basic hat and I knit it in under 24 hours from stash yarn (from the Box of Yarn That Doesn't Exist i.e. is full of low-grade DK or odds & ends). Clearly I did something odd with the decrease rate but I like the result given that I made it up as I went along. And the recipient has been suitably grateful which makes the whole endeavor worthwhile.

Loop, London

I went to Cambridge for a Summer School, stayed in a lovely college, ate lots of food and slept very little. But mostly this was really hard work for 11 days with one and a half days off in the middle. The half day was spent punting...

... and of course knitting. So on my full day off I wanted to do something that was very much not summer school-related, very much not in Cambridge. So I went all the way to London town, met up with the lovely Sophie who whisked me away to somewhere I have wanted to go for a long time now.

Loop London. Yes, it's lovely window display does have woodland-creature-related art on it. And like many a knitter before me, I stepped in to a little woolly haven.

This was an excellent way to leave the stress of the previous week and the hustle-and-bustle of London that my inner Northerner still has issues with and just think about knitting. There was a lot of really lovely yarn [bottom photo] - I mean the £10-£15/skein sock yarn, which I love - but there was also decent yarn more suitable for a beginner (under £5/ball DK). I got some of each...

100g Malabrigo sock in Impressionist Sky. Will probably make something for my mum, as she loves that sort of colour. Probably not socks, it's too pretty! I did spend a long time squeezing the Wollmeise but this colour spoke to me.

This one is really much much greener than this, but my camera will not do it justice. 50g of Rico Cotton DK, probably for making some little mittletts or something. As yet unsure, mainly bought because I loved the colour.

Overall, Loop is a brilliant yarn shop and was in a good area with plenty of cafes and other interesting shops, walking distance from King's Cross (but probably not with luggage!) and an excellent selection of yarn. Heartily recommended!

What's on my needles

I have realised in all my excitement of travelling to the four corners of Britain, it has been a fair while since I have mentioned what I'm actually knitting. And this is because, for the lat month, it has been dominated by one item: Lauriel.

I am a lot in love with this pattern and apart from some teething problems with the rib at the start has flowed off my needles (as I mentioned a while ago). Except, it has been a very busy month and so it is not getting the attention it deserves. Much progress was made during my working from Scotland days, but this stalled as I reached Cambridge and the ribbing at the bottom of the body. I have come to the simple conclusion that I have the wrong number of stitches which is why the ribbing won't work, have fudged accordingly and need to see how it turns out.

Meanwhile, I needed something to do in the seminars I attended in Cambridge. Socks were an obvious solution.

My coursemates were supportive and maybe a little impressed with my skills over the fortnight (I did only get in about an hour a day, with note-taking). I was wondering if I could come up with a decent name for the project and when I asked my neighbour she said unhesitatingly 'The Sanity Socks'. After all, what is better for keeping your head during ten 12-hour days plus a half-day Saturday than some self-striping socks?

When I was at home for a few days and needed some knitting for while I was catching up with Torchwood (still very behind though, tsk!), I picked up my first ever knitted thing: the Garter Stitch Scarf. Last year I decided it was too short to be useful, so grabbed some extra wool in an end-of-line sale to make it useful again. As the weather begins to turn colder, I fear I may need it sooner rather than later!

I will probably have more exciting travel stories when I next write. Until next time x

Culross

Today I have been in classes from 9am to 9pm for the fifth day in a row, and my brain is fried. It is too fried to sort out Lauriel which I keep messing up. Too fried to play pool. Definitely too fried to do any of the massive pile of work that is lurking just out of my eyeline. So as that is all no fun at all and I could do with some escape, I'm going to write about another of Scotland's tourist attractions I went to this month; Culross (pronounced coo-ros).

It is a lovely old village that much of has been protected by the National Trust for Scotland - and it is easy to see why, it is too cute. We pottered round the manor house (called the Palace, a little optimistically!) and had a brilliant tour of the village which I learned loads on. And then we had tea and cake, of course.

The manor house - built 1626! - is a fab shade of yellow and contains all kinds of crafty treats (I did take a couple of shots before remembering that NTS properties are ususally no photos allowed, oops!). There is still a little of the original paint on the walls/ceiling in a couple of the rooms, and the paintings are really beautiful. The Culross Needlework Guild has done a ton of work in there, it was absolutely stunning, especially in the Garden Room (that was deffo no photos!).

The whole place grew up on a clever mining scheme that got coal out from under the Forth, in the 16th and 17th centuries. The good stuff they sold and the poorer quality coal was used for turning the salty Firth of Forth waters into salt. It was eventually flooded in a severe storm but at low tide, you can still see the old harbour wall and the borehole (circled in red) they used to send the miners down in (nb. it doesn't have a train service (freight-only line) but I did see buses and the car parking was easy and free).

And I hear it was on Coast a long time ago. Clearly a program of excellent taste, it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. I heartily recommend it, especially if the hurly-burly of Edinburgh during the festival is finally driving you mad - it is less than an hour away and so relaxing.

A Darn Good Sunday

So I was in Scotland - or maybe more precisely, in Fife. It's just the north side of the Firth of Forth (the estuary that Edinburgh is on). Why? because my lovely other half is from there. I have been there many, many times over the years we have been together, and had a lot of more active weekends that this one. It's just that this one I thought was the most noteworthy.

Saturday was actually pretty quiet - food shopping, a walk on a beach, a very speedy trip to a yarn shop in the next town (I didn't think it was very good so I'll keep quiet about it). Evening in. On Sunday, he even had a lie in! By the time he got up I think maybe he felt guilty that I'd been up for three hours, eaten breakfast and was well into Cup of Tea Number Four. So when I suggested a rather mad trip in the car to Falkirk and then Glasgow, he agreed as quick as lightening!

So first was the Falkirk Wheel. It is a fabulous piece of millennium engineering that connects two canals in Scotland - the Union and Forth-Clyde. It lifts the boats up/down by rotating around, while using minimal energy and looking pretty. I really enjoyed it; relaxing boat trip, educational in an interesting-not-boring way, and ice cream at the end of it.

{apologies for the dodge reflections}

Then things took a turn towards yarn...

The Yarn Cake is a wee shop in north-west Glasgow (near the Botanic Gardens) and so far, it is the best yarn shop I have been in. It may be small but is perfectly formed; I liked the balance of Drops with indie-dyers (the Yarn Yard and Abstract Cat when I popped by). The decor was simple but effective, there was a good selection of knitting books, and there were tables for perusing books / knitting / debating what to buy / eating cake / drinking tea. Because I am shy, I didn't take photos inside (there were a fair few other customers) and because I am disorganised, I don't have photos of all the stuff I bought there (but I will soon!). And I will certainly go back when I can, armed with camera and confidence.

But overall, it really was a brilliant day out with stunningly sunny weather, doing things, drinking tea and buying yarn. And my other half is very very lovely for doing all the driving - it did go over 100 miles!

FO Friday - Feather & Fan Socks

I decided, during the knitting funk, that a speedy knit was needed. Something attainable, with a new skill or two thrown in to make me feel like I'm Developing As A Knitter. And so I stumbled upon these guys.

Pattern: the Feather and Fan sock, a toe-up sock pattern with lace on the ankle [ravelry link].

Yarn: 4ply from Woolfest 2011, called 'Rainbow Sock Wool' - a BFL/nylon blend that is lovely and cosy from the Wool Clip stall. The label tells me it was made by Jan & Cecilia and you can email or telephone them, but they don't have their own website or anything.

Love the pattern, so easy to follow and needing just the right amount of brain power. Learned about short-row shaping at the toe and heel, and the awesome super-stretchy bind off at the top. I think I'll be making all my future socks toe-up in future; I just get on with it better than top-down.

I love how this yarn has turned out with these socks. It really is a match made in heaven, and I'm really proud of them. I did have a crisis of confidence with them - clearly related to the general knitting funk - but that makes me even more proud of them. I made it through, and would you look at what I did on the way??

"WIP Wednesday" - Lauriel

Today I am doing a (belated) WIP Wednesday because at the moment I only have one thing on my needles, and that is an Exciting Thing. It's belated because I passed out on the sofa about 9pm, woke up an hour later and decided nothing was coming between me and my bed!

Pattern: Lauriel, from Little Red in the City.
Yarn: Subline Extra Fine Merino DK, from Baa Ram Ewe (shop link) in 138 (Reefer)

I have been dying to make garments for a long while now, and I had a good introduction with the bolero, but to be honest, that was so easy it hardly counted. Lauriel is a different beast - I need to think about fit and sizing and guage a lot more. After trying on the sample at the Ysolda event at my LYS and it fitting perfectly, size 34 was clearly the way forward. I measured and I'm a 35 - all good so far. There is increasing to do and that doesn't look too bad. I'm warned there is going to be some maths for bust darts, so we shall have to see how I get on with that. But the little bit I have done has been enjoyable knitting, a well-written pattern though required some brain power (and several frogging episodes when my brain stopped!) The yarn is brilliant to work with; I have a slight tendency to go through it especially on 'tbl' stitches but is so soft gives lovely stitch definition.

Though there is a long way to go....