Misadventures in Knitting

People, last weekend was a good one for many things, but not for knitting. Well, there was a LOT of knitting, and I did crack on with my vanilla sock very effectively but it just felt a bit like everything I touched turned to crumbs last week. And it continued with the knitting.

First off, I decided to try out some awesome new yarn from The Yarn Yard. I bought this shortly before my epic trip to the US so it's pretty new to me, and I'm always a one for seeing the yarn and then letting ideas ferment in my head before casting on. Except this one, it's just too pretty. I thought it would just be a vanilla sock, toe-up to showcase the yarn, and then I started.

Things began promisingly,  I loved the toe part, but when I looked at the full width part I thought, 'this could be so much better than just a vanilla sock'. Also, call me crazy but I see pooling. Or at least some kind of regular organisation to the stripes...

...though maybe I am losing my marbles. In short, it got frogged. Though it did look cute in the process.

Though my biggest misadvanture in knitting by a country mile this week has been Skelf, a bottom up jumper. I did the ribbing, knitted though the tree, waist and bust shaping and got it as far as my armpits before working out it was too big (36" size). I took it with me when I went to see Steph and she gave me enough wine that I could face the frogging. And boy was it a lot of frogging....

I plan to try one size down (34"), double-check my gauge, keep trying it on, and try to rack my brains to see if I remember what size the sample was, as I have a nasty feeling it was the 32" and it fit OK.

Of course, there will also be a lot of finger-crossing this week.

Adventures in Suffolk

Last weekend, I went to visit Steph in Aldeburgh. After the train and car rides, I arrived at Steph's lovely little house (Steph has promise to blog about that herself). It is in the grounds of a much bigger house, and we had a little potter around them (Steph has actually blogged about the grounds, with a lot more photos that I took!). It is a beautiful and peaceful place, just what I needed after a hectic few weekends!  On the Saturday we pottered into town and I bought a few bits and bobs, and had a yummy Cream Tea in the sunshine.

After tea, we had a potter on the beach, which is pebbles but there is this view back towards the town.

Also, there is a sculpture memorial to composer Benjamin Britten, who lived and worked in the town and has left quite a legacy behind him.

[If you want to try a little Britten, a good place to start is The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. He is also known for operas - like Peter Grimes, from which the quote on the sculpture is taken, and which is coming up at the Proms if you're in London.]

I did also have a little fun with my camera...

...including this stunning back-lit cumulonimbus cloud.

The next day we went to Orford, a nearby village full of pretty cottages, and an impressive castle with some incredible views. 

We did also surprise some sheep in the church's graveyard; we were not expecting to hear a startled 'baaa!' as we were walking through such a peaceful place!

Overall, it was a chilled weekend of pottering, chatting, drinking tea and most importantly knitting (more on that later though!). Thanks for having me Steph :) xx

FO: Cubist Socks

It has been a good month for socks. More specifically, a good month for Cookie A free patterns, since I made the Pomatomas ones not long ago. These were also partially knitted in America - indeed a little knitted on the plane home, which I felt very brave about!

Not exactly sock wearing weather here this week but I really enjoyed making them, fairly straightforward pattern (with 'breaks' i.e. plain knit rows between the patterned rows, unlike pomatomas). I love the yarn, the colour screamed at me very loudly indeed when we went to The Yarn Cake in Glasgow all that time ago. Like much of the awesome yarn I buy, I have to wait for a pattern that will do it justice. I think this is a pretty good combination, if I do say so myself!

Pattern: Cubist Socks by Cookie A [rav link], no mods.
Yarn: The Yarn Yard Bonny in Purple

Colorado

My dear reader, thank you for your patience; things here at Chronicles have been very busy for the past week and I can only apologise that my blogging has fallen by the wayside. I will tell you all about it when I can but for now, here is my last post about my trip to the US.

The whole reason for going was actually for work, so I spent three weeks hanging out in Boulder, CO, with some super-cool weather fans at this place. Can you see it perched on the hill there? Beautiful place to learn about meteorology.

As it was an organised course thing with about 30 people on it, there were trips at the two weekends. The first one involved a shortish hike in the Rocky Mountains National Park, which was also incredibly beautiful.

The view from the top, at a little less than 12,000ft (3,600m). It was chilly enough for lying snow to remain (even though it was June!) and high enough that I had to catch my breath once or twice.

The walk started in essentially scrubland and descended about 1000ft...

...into forest, where we caught the odd glimpse of the mountain tops.

Despite the descent, we still encountered some sizeable snowdrifts, as it was sheltered from wind and a little shaded from sun. There were a couple where I was walking through snow well above my knees - and the one time I fell into one I was in it up to my hips!

This is the bottom of the walk, taken looking back up - still a few snow patches near the path but it was noticeably warmer at 10,700ft when we arrived at lunchtime.

The second weekend, we did a much less strenuous walk over fields and in the woods. We got some lovely views back over Boulder and the Great Plains, and of the Front Range.