Not being selfish

Well apparantly I am a glutton for punishment. Just after I finished typing my last entry, I decided that the project I had made for my swap partner wasn't enough and it was very important that I should do another one. But I should still send my parcel out the following day. So I found a small project and I knitted (then WoW'd) and knitted until almost 1.30am when it was all finished except for being cast off, having ends weaved in and blocked. I got up early the next day in order to finish it off, finish the first project and finish wrapping and packing everything before taking it to the post office before 12.30pm.

I made it. By the skin of my teeth. So one parcel was finished and on it's way (or, shortly to be on it's way as I'd missed the last post).

One more to go.

The next day (Sunday) was spent picking up the stitches around the hooded baby blanket in order to make the border. Wednesday I finished that and blocked the baby chalice lace blanket. Thursday I went back to work (despite not feeling even vaguely rested or relaxed thanks to stressy holiday), but was still able to weave in all ends (and all correctly - I'm finding it much easier to do this now I know how to do it properly). And finally, yesterday (Friday) I packaged them up beautifully with a little note to Stef and Neil (mostly about how to wash them) and took them to the post office so they have now also started on their way.

I'm actually really enjoying this knitting for other people. I'm normally a very selfish knitter, but I've liked sending things off to people - especially when they don't know it's coming.

Pictures will follow at some point soon as I have actually managed to take some of my FO's!

So yesterday, I cast on two new projects. Firstly I decided to use some of the yarn Kara has given to me from her gran's stash (her gran no longer being able to knit) to cast on for Branching Out. The yarn I've picked (from the two enormous and filled to the top bin bags) is a fuzzy (probably some degree of mohair, but with something else added (acrylic?) to make it softer) somewhere between lace and DK weight in a bright duck egg blue with sparkles in. Not much of the yarn Kara donated has the labels on, so I am mostly guessing (though there is a lot of mohair in there).

The other project is finally making use of the beautiful Dream in Color Starry I bought a while ago which is burgundy with 2% silver fibre. The yarn is so beautiful I decided it didn't need a complicated pattern in order to show it off, so I've picked the Susie's Reading Mitts from this site. It's been quite cold these past few days and so apparantly I've been in the mood to make lots and lots of mittens/scarves/cowls/hats - and I keep looking for new patterns to make even more!

In other news, I *dinged* 80 on my druid (this is WoWspeak), went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (to celebrate my last day of freedom) and started back at work - it's like I never had a holiday already.

Procrastination

Yesterday was GCSE results day, so I went in to see the kids and how they did in their exams. It was nice to see most of them again. There were no tears or tantrums, so I guess everyone got what they thought they would. We only had one student fail everything, which at our school is almost good!

My swap package is progressing nicely and I'm hoping to send it out tomorrow - if I don't then I'll be stuck for a few days as it's a bank holiday. Almost everything is wrapped, I just need to finish assembling the handmade item (which I'm still worried is a little lame).

At the moment though I'm sturggling as I've got to the end of all my projects and seem to have so much finishing to do. And I hate finishing. I mean, HATE it. I've been known to wear swaether with the ends not sewn in because I hate it so much. The hooded blanket is blocked, but I need to attach the hood and do the edging. The lacey blanket still needs to be blocked. I need to bind off my other sock and sewn in the edges on both, and block them. The only real project I have still on the needles is the Crofter's Cowl, of which I have done the first half.

However, the only way it's going to get done is if I stop procrastinating on the internets and actually get on with it *sigh*.

Updatey

Decided to use the Lorna's Laces to make another baby blanket (you can never have too many of those, right?). This was mostly because the yarn has a little pink in it and I wasn't sure that Stef and Neil would want to be putting a baby boy in a jumper that had a little pink in. So far it's a simple 5x5 squared pattern using stockinette and reverse stockinette which looks quite effect. It's upstairs being blocked at the moment. I've also made a little hood which I will block then attach and then I've bought some Debbie Bliss Rialto in order to make a border. It's based on http://thriftyknitter.com/?p=293, which as a pattern allows for a lot of different interpretations - something I like now I'm becoming a little more experienced.

I've also cast on for my Crofter's Cowl. I'm using the most beautiful Malabrigo ever which is in gorgeous autumnal colours. It's going alright so far, but I keep making mistakes in the lace patterns and having to tink back. Possibly I should just pay more attention and stop having a glass of wine or two while I knit.

Also, I cast off one of my Blackrose socks yesterday. Haven't quite got round to doing the other one yet, but I have one sock. Wooties. I'm not convinced it's a perfect fit, but I'll have to see how it fits when I've blocked it. Mostly I've been feeling too lazy to do the finishing.

Life stuff has been a bit harder lately as one of my (two) uncle's died very suddenly about two weeks ago of a heart attack. He was 60 and there was no apparant reason for it. I guess sometimes these things happen. Last week was spent in a caravan in Cleethorpes in order to atend the funeral and visit with family.

I have another week and a half left of the holiday. At the moment I don't feel like I've spent it particularly well, but I'm not sure what I could have done differently or how to change this in the next week and a half.

Still, my housemate's cat just bought a frog in and I rescued it which made me feel good.

Baby Blanket

Well, I went to Stash Yarns on Tuesday and managed to pick up some Dream in Color in the colourway Black Parade. It's a beautiful black with flashes of greens and browns that kinda reminds me of a blackbirds wing. I know it's a slightly odd colour choice for a baby blanket, but as I keep reminding myself, baby's Mum (my friend Steph) is a trad goth.

So I cast on that day and managed to get a whole two repeats of the lace pattern done (it's a 20 row repeat) and it was looking much better than my first attempt. Less busy anyhow. And I've carried on at the same kind of speed right up until today (Saturday) when I finished it. I still need to weave in ends (but this process makes me mad as I just can't do it right) and block it somehow, but it's finished. Already.

I even used a new (for me) bind off - the Sewn Bind Off - as I don't like how a Basic Bind Off looks. The Sewn Bind Off is a lot more time consuming, but I liked to edge much better. If I use it again (which I probably will) I will probably do it on the wrong side row though as on this one it has added an extra row and the edge will look much neater.

I have also (in my 'I'm on holiday and am therefore knitting like a crazy thing' state) have done part 1 and 3a of my swap project. I will post about what it is when my partner had received her project, but I don't want her to find out in advance, so make of this what you will.

I have also decided that I really really want to make the February Lady Sweater (http://www.flintknits.com/blog/?p=151) and even started looking into yarns before I realised that I still need to finish the swap project, my Blackrose socks, sort out my Juno Regina stole and start off two other projects for which I have already bought the yarn (some beautiful Malabrigo Worsted that will be a cowl and some stunning Dream in Color Starry which is burgendy with silver fibre) as well as use the yarn originally intended for the Baby Chalice blanket for something else (probably baby related).

Oh, and I've just found out I have left my needles in Norwich...

I think I have finally worked out the issues with this blog, so hopefully I will be able to update it a little more often (though my knitting is going very slowly, so there is not much to update).

At the moment I am on summer holiday once more, which is very good. This past year has seemed very long at times. I broke up last Friday (17th July) and have pretty much been on Brownie Pack Holiday ever since. In spite of the name, this is not much of a holiday for the people running it. It's more like working all day every day. I finished on the one with my unit (leaving a good quantity of them throwing up as some kind of bug went around) and travelled down to London to help out with my sister's one. There was less vomiting on this one, though a girl did step on a nail which right up into her foot. And this time I was the first aider and so had to deal with it. Luckily I know a little bit about these kinds of foot injuries aving very recently decided it was a good idea to walk home barefoot from the pub and having stepped on something which decided to stay inside of my heel. I did the same for her that the walk-in clinic I went to did for me and gave her a big padded plaster.

The holidays have given me a very small time to knit (more than an average day does...), so I have made some progress on the magic loop socks I have been working on. The heel was turned during day 1 of the first one and I am now some way through the foot (probably just under half). I have, however, made absolutely no progress on the two projects I am making for other people. The baby blanket did get off the ground to some extent, but the yarn I picked is too busy for the pattern, so I'm going to go to Stash Yarns in Putney tomorrow to try and get hold of some nice Dream in Color - thankfully baby is not due until September 5th after all. And the other project is for a swap package that has also somewhat stalled. I have picked up a few bits and bobs, but no yarn and am not close to finishing the project yet. I really need to get a move on, but thankfully I will have lots of time over the next few weeks.

Once I've recovered from Pack Holidays though.

OMG!

Look, I actually managed to sign in again! This site has to be the most frustrating I have ever come across.



Anywho, lots of stuff has been going on of late.



On the knitting front, I have been trying out many new things - mostly socks. I have made one Spring Forward (just the one - the other will hopefully be finished soon) and am currently some way through my first two at a time magic loop project in the shape of Black Rose with some lovely Malabrigo.

Speaking of Malabrigo, I've also cast on for Juno Regina in some of their laceweight, but I went wrong somewhere and have been trying to tink back to find where - something that is easier said than done!!

And I started a new project today as well - Stef and Neil are expecting a baby, so I've started Baby Chalice Blanket (Ravelry link) which I hope to finish quickly and I think she's due any minute!!

In school related news, we have had a girl loose her finger, found out that I do have a job next year, but a very different one to the one a currently have, and I'm not sure I like the changes and found out that the new Academy colours will be black and red.

In other news, I have passed my driving test back in February, bought a car and loved driving around. I have bought a new laptop as my desktop sadly died. I have joined a gym and I graded recently and am now a blue belt.

Lots of updating

So, I haven't been able to log into this for ages, for some reason. I'm not enitrely sure how I got into it now in fact.

So, I've been on summer holiday which has been all good. So far I've spent some time at home, took the Brownies away on Pack Holiday and spent a week on an all inclusive trip to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt (which was just wonderful, no thanks to the tour company (never travel with Thomas Cook) or the fact that I picked up a tummy bug which I still have).

I've also finished my Adipose for the Ravelry Doctor Who Adipose knit-a-long which should be sent to the BBC by Mazzmatazz (hopefully it will be well knit enough). I've also knitted two Coachellas which have turned out to be my favourite knit in absolutely ages - really easy to do and look fantastic on. Unfortunately the first one has stretched enormously (not sure if this is down to the yarn (Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in New Age Teal) or the pattern). I'm going to try and block it smaller or shrink it a little. I'm a little worried that the second one will stretch as much. Whilst in Egypt I cast on for Yosemite, but haven't managed to get further than the first three rows as BOTH times I managed to twist the stitches when joining for the round - something I've never done before and now I'm done it twice on the same project. I'm not sure this is meant to be! One more try and then I'll have to find another project for the yarn (Rowan Calmer in Chocolate Brown).

Today was GCSE results day, so I popped into school to see the kids. It was heaving with them and most of them did at least what was expected, if not better. There were a few disappointments, as there always are, but most of the kids I spoke to had managed to secure college places or had already got jobs, which was really good news. I'm not sure what our figures are, but apparantly they're better than last year - not that we could have done much worse!

I got to hear some of the gossip as well. Apparantly the school business manager along with her partner the head of facilities (glorified caretaker) were suspended and she was escourted offsite by police! She has since handd in her resignation! Which may mean for once that we could be in with a shot of someone actually listening when we try and tell them that its not far that people who sit in an office all day get paid more than us! Not that there's anything wrong with being school admin, but we're on the frontline, we should at least be paid equal!

Now I've got to try and decide if I'm going to go to knitting club or not. I would like to, especially when I went two weeks ago after not having been for ages to find that a woman I worked with for two years has started going, but due to this tummy bug I've not been feeling to good today. Not sure how good an idea it will be to be out of the house for long, though I did manage it this morning. Will probably be ok as long as I don't eat anything.

This was a massive update. Hopefully I'll be able to get into this before too long so it won't have to go as long with no blogging.