Snoozing. And tits.

It's been a while since my last post - just tired and sore, mainly tired. And sore. Did I mention sore?

These have been made, and are waiting to be felted. They have been waiting to be felted for some time now .... one is hopefully destined to be written up as a pattern, the rest are 'parts' for assorted swaps. Hence the rubbish photo ;-)

My hands are really sore at the moment and very swollen so no felting today. Am snuggled in the big striped jumper I made a little while ago:

Absolutely unflattering (huge, soft, striped) but wonderfully snuggly and cosy - made in Rowan alpaca cotton so it is light and fairly warm. Lovely.

It is chuffing freezing here, not nice.

More knitting has been happening - I am completely addicted to these little things at the moment (which won't have helped my sore fingers). Can you tell what it is yet?

I am using a mishmash of yarns I have already - the blue is a Jamieson's Shetland Spinthrift 4ply, the white is good old Ethical Twist, the black is Wendy Merino. The first one was fine but the other two (told you I was hooked) look much better (I knit the black / white parts with the wools stranded, worked much better).

Worked it out yet?
No?
Here have another pic:

Here you go, right way up and half made:

Little blue tits (madam). Absolutely love knitting these!
I am also knitting these:

and doing a lot of cuddling with this:

Bless him. I get him out often so he can have some exercise, but all he has ever wanted to do when he is out is snuggle up, be stroked and sing. He is so sweet. And fat. And warm.

If I dare to stop stroking him, he licks me and nudges me until I start again.

I seem to have a LOT of partly made things, I really need to start finishing things soon. It is November, and certain swaps need posting before the end of this month. Yikes!

Oh. Em. Gee.

Oh dear.

Rowan mags - I love the feel of them, the look of them - yes, even that overdone 'all Yorkshire folk dress like Viv Westwood urchins and roam the moors looking wild and wretched' look.Most of the front covers are beautiful and I want to paint several of them. I have always seen these magazines as a treat. But not this one.

Where to start?

Let's go for flattering knits - surely the main point of spending hours and hours making something is that it looks beautiful and flattering? If I just want warm I will hide under my duvet.

So - Rowan's version of flattering.

Brace yourself.

Bear in mind that these are on very slim, very tall models. I am less than 5ft, and size 14 / 16.

Not as bad as you were expecting? How about this:

Now this is a style very favoured by Kim Hargreaves, and a shape I personally absolutely love - very Victorian, riding crops, saucy smile, long flowing skirts sort of look (or that might just be my mind). But in chunky, with cables, it makes those teenytiny hips look bulky - I suspect there's a reason they don't show the back view.

But, I hear you say, that's still not too bad. It could look good on someone 6ft plus, size 8.

So I present to you:

Yes, I would really love to add what - a couple of inches thickness all round? In Big Wool. With tight looking, too short looking sleeves that must feel very bulky under the arms (there's a giddy big gap between her arm and her side, which I suspect is because the thing is so thick she can't actually bring her arms any closer!)- oh, and the nifty way it flicks out at the hem. And the gaping neckline. And the Michelin man-esque gathery pleat things at the front - nice. What? Not bulky enough for you? Throw in some mega chunky cables to add a bit more girth, missus.

Erm ...

OK, there are more - not very flattering, not very pretty. The ones I half like (but probably not enough to knit, unless my daughter wants one) are the mens jumpers, they are less scary.

And not very interesting either.

So then it moves on to the Russian Doll section (I just checked what the previous section was - apparently it is called Nomad, although Bulky Bastards section would be a better name).

Now some of this section I like - but would never ever wear, mainly due to not being a size 6, liking Yorkshire Pudding (hence not being a size 6), not doing colour and - er - well. Let the pictures speak.

I was going to apologise for the glare on some of these photos, but actually I think it's a blessing in disguise. Obviously Viv Westwood styling - or Hayzee Fantayzee meets Big Country's cast off shirts - and yes, that snippet of 'waistcoat'(?) is the featured pattern. Utterly lost in the styling - maybe for a reason.

I really like this - but do not feel the urge to look like a bag of liquorice allsorts.

I think it says a lot that the ONLY thing in the entire magazine I am really likely to knit are these -

, which I think are lovely. Yes, plain mitts and a long scarf. The combined talents of all the Rowan designers - and fingerless mitts and a scarf are the best thing - in my opinion - and the most wearable. And even they are not exactly mind blowing.

There's also the 'older lady' section. Remind you of anything?

I quite like this.But again, it isn't exactly awe inspiring.

How the hell does she scratch her nose?

So there it is.

Crikey

it's been a tough few weeks. I have been ill today and yesterday, had lots of tests at the dr (arranged last week, so the timing was good), pretty grotty. Not stress (I think) but not nice.

Once again the week has just vanished, too tired and fed up when I get home to do much in the way of crafty goodness, and as I have a craft fair next weekend that's a bit of a bugger, am going to have to sew for England over the weekend to make sure I have plenty of stock.

Absolutely GORGEOUS weather, sunny, downright warm this afternoon, and warmer still forecast for the weekend, bliss. I had a pootle about in my teenytiny garden, and am counting it all as part of my Craft a Day for the Month of May:

Bits of all sorts - sugarsnap peas, runner beans, radish, lettuce, spring onions (or opinions as I originally typed), chard, spinach, beetroot. Several of the larger plants will need transplanting when they really start growing (with a bit of luck) but for now they seem perfectly happy. Considering it's a seriously tiny garden with no soil I think it's doing really well.

I also have one of those inceywincey wannabe greenhouses (with plastic covers that rip every time you unzip the front) and it's great! Spring onions, chard, lettuce, beans - all sorts, and plenty more in pots that haven't peeped through yet. I love the smell of it and the humidity when I open it - one day I will have a decent sized garden, and ideally a 'real' grown up greenhouse. And a shed! And a lawn, I really really miss a lawn.

Not the greatest photo in the world - Rowan Cotton Tape, one of the wondrous Kemps bargains, I have had this sitting upstairs for ages (pre Christmas I think), and needed something that would grow quickly - I want a long loose throw-it-on type of cardi, so hopefully this will work ok. It's a new pattern on Ravelry, will add a link tomorrow. It's also a nice break from another cardi I cast on for the other night (I was in serious need of something to calm my tattered nerves after another violent day at work and my laptop wouldn't connect. After a few minutes tutting to myself I used it as an opportunity to actually knit something from a book or magazines instead of downloading yet another patern, and ended up with one I plan on adapting from a Rowan mag - will link this one too.

 It's in a very spiderycobwebby sort of wool - a merino / silk 4ply, and I suspect it's going to take until next summer to finish it.

I also love this cardi - no idea where I saw the link.

I would have to make the cables mirror each other though, but I like it and love the bubblegum pink.

That's it for now - sewing, knitting, sleeping, that's tomorrow's plan. And being very careful about what I eat - dr's advice at the moment is no gluten at all, and ideally no dairy. Poor tum.

grumpy old cow...

...thats me

a mix of the summer holidays coming to an end (where did it go?), back to school nerves (sheer horror / terror / confusion / disorder / panic), a run in with a patronising cow when i tried to return a (very expensive) cardi that was shedding so much it was coming off in lumps and making me sneeze (its got mohair sweetheart, its what it does, you should read the label) to which my reply was can i have head offices number please, i am not your sweetheart so please dont patronise me, and where on the label does it say this garment will shed all over the place, ruin what you are wearing underneath and make you sneeze

cow
and with my luck today she will be my one and only reader
in which case - i think you are a patronising cow
so there

ahem

on a knitting front:

have started this beauty:

from this lovely assortment (the rowan is as dark a charcoal grey can get without actually being black, i would have preferred black but this is leeds and one takes what one can get)

(unless its a very moulty expensive cardi)

have finished one side front (and how confuseled was i? AT THE SAME TIME increase 5 million stitches whilst standing on your head listing to the left AT THE SAME TIME decrease 3.456 whilst whistling the national anthem AT THE SAME TIME blah blah blah

got there eventually, 2nd time around
and one sleeve almost done, loads of snowdrops to sew up later on... love love love the colours together

knit. stay sane. knit. drink wine. knit. and ignore patronising cows.....