skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I was home in Elgin at the weekend and got to chatting with my mum about knitting and one thing led to another and doll's clothes, our baby clothes, knitting magazines etc. got pulled out of the attic. There is so much to blog about that this is post 1 of 2!
Above is a cardigan my dad knitted for me when I was born [pic of me in it below]. It's blue not because they were expecting/hoping for a boy, but because blue would look OK on a girl, but pink maybe not so much on a boy.
My mum helped by casting on and off, and seaming the sleeves, but other than that this is all my dad's work!
This was knitted by my great-granny for a doll - although there are pictures of me in it. A doll!! Look at the work in it - I could never give so much for little girl's doll, and I took a lot of photos of it - Fair Isle is next on my list, so I was entranced by this stunning cardigan. 
Reverse photos ...
This pink shawl was knitted by my granny for my mum when she was a baby - it was cream then. My mum dyed it pink and it was passed down a generation to me when I was a baby. It was knitted in Brora wool [and I think the cardi above was too]
detailed shot ...
[There were many many more photos, however they didn't come out as well as I'd hoped.]
Finally a pic of me at the Osprey Centre at Abernethy where I saw a baby Osprey [sadly it has died since] and it's parents feeding it. So I got an Osprey cuddly toy from the boy [with real Osprey sounds when you press it's belly - I didn't whilst there - but the cat fairly got a shock when I let it screech in the house]
There was a point where one of the staff exclaimed that the dad was coming back to feed the chick with a big fish in his mouth, and the birdwatchers stampeded in a flock to all available binoculars and telescopes. I figured a similar event would happen were someone to shout that free silk laceweight was available outside during one of our Knit n' Stitch meets!
Encouraged by K1 Yarns and Sarah, the boy and I visited the Lighthouse this weekend for the Scottish Show/Six Cities exhibition. There were lots of cool things to look at and think about - in particular someone's suggestion to improve the entrance to the Mitchell Library by covering over the gaping motorway hole with a lovely flat green space. So simple, but such a lovely idea. He wrote to the relevant authorities but no answer as yet ...
Anyways, we climbed alot of circular stairway steps to get the top of the Lighthouse tower - I had to be persuaded, and had I not been wearing my pedomoeter the boy probably wouldn't have got me up there [no pedometer = wasted steps].
It's amazing how a different perspective can shed a whole new light on a place [click for giant pics];
The Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art [spiky pointy roof] 
The formidable Gorbals Towers
How did they get there to tag this?
A lovely roof garden - bet they love all the people staring at them from the Lighthouse tower - especially those that take photos ... In the distance; Glasgow tower blocks.
Just liked the perspective of this one.
I loved the colours and perspective of this shot.
And back to all things knitty; I have fallen in love with Elann's Pinwheel sweater [free pattern here]. I have a few balls of Wool of the Andes from various swaps, Canadian friends' kind mum's, etc., and I think that I can put these together with a few balls of Elann's yarn to make this. I'm thinking browns, springy greens, golden yellows and pale cream. There's even a knit-a-long for this, although it seems fairly quiet. 
I can't believe it's been a year since I finished the baby blanket for my boss's little girl - she is 1 on 2nd July, so I have bought the yarn for this Bedtime Teddy. A pattern from Simply Knitting Issue 13. It'll be my first toy, and if it goes well, probably a staple pattern for future baby presents.
Crochet is going well - I'm onto a mesh bag for Japan - it's for cramming all the yarn I plan to buy in, so it is expandable. Clever, no? Made with Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, free pattern here.
And a final kitty watching the birds shot. I'm currently addicted to Springwatch and I think we may have baby blue tits any day now. Mum and Dad Blue Tit have been hauling food back to what I hope is a nest full of babies for quite a while now. The boy is so happy that I love watching the birds - I've long mocked him for this hobby, without realising how cool it is to watch wee birds having dust baths, and feeding their fluffy babies. Wish we had more blue tits and less boring brown sparrows though.
I can't believe it's been a fortnight since my last post.Various things have kept me away; Blogger, the camera, lack of writerly mood, the lack of excitement in photographing Icarus - stunning, and so exciting, but at the moment it's really just a clump of lace knitting on circs.
But mainly my hand has been giving me trouble. It's been tingling, and 'nerve-jumping' for a while, causing me problems with knitting [gah!], keeping in touch with friends [email & texts] and gaming. All of which has made me blue. Honestly, I don't know how people can just veg out in front of the TV and do nothing - tried it, and turned into a crabby person within 2 hours.
I mentioned my plan to restrict my knitting/gaming at work. My colleague said 'yeah, don't knit for a week or so, that should help'. I meant I wasn't going to knit for 24 hours. A week! A full entire endless week with no knitting *shudder* Not possible.
So I did everything else. Swapped my mouse over, adjusted seat, monitor etc. a-la University workplace guidelines, stopped slouching and sat up in my seat. I've walked lots [over 12000 steps the day I walked to K1 Yarns after work] in attempt to 'fix' the twinge in my back which is probably causing the hand strain.
Everything is feeling a bit better now - I haven't felt the tingling for a few days. Clearly my sedentry hobbies are not helping. The fear of being unable to knit or game appears to have motivated me to take exercise where every other motivational tool has failed. I don't care about floppy muscles or an inability to run to catch the bus.
I DO care VERY MUCH about being unable to knit though...
Thought I'd try my hand at crochet ... the top attempt began as a rectangle and ended up 'freeform' to get used to the crochet actions.
My second rectangle - a pair of lips! ... I started using stripes in a vain attempt to ensure I was using the correct 'v's with my hook. My 'v's are drunken and slope off to one side - I have no idea why this is so. Trying to work it out caused me to flip a bit though... I tried to demonstrate to the boy how knitting is the art of giving one pointy stick a stitch with another pointy stick, whereas crochet seems to be jamming the bluntest part of a hook directly into the fabric causing much yarn splittage and expletives.
The inability of the boy to understand and help led to further rage and a call to my mum; who offered to show me next time I visit [I'm sure she can't wait!] When I can't grasp something I tend to get all rage-ful, stressed and cross, which doesn't help. I learned knitting via the medium of rage, and it seems to have worked though ...
The thing that makes me cross is that this is my great-granny's hobby. And she was brilliant at it. So I feel like it should be built into my genes somehow in the way that knitting is. Hopefully soon I will be able to present an actual rectangle, that I can read and see the rows and stitches in, rather than a wooly mess.
I have been in the land of pattern-reading of late, since I wasn't able to actually knit much. So I bought a few mags, browsed the web and found some lovely patterns to add to the catalogue of Works in the Queue.
Toe-up sock pattern from Interweave Knits...
Summertime Tunic, also from Interweave Knits. You know the patterns you look at and just 'know' - like Central Park Hoodie? Well this is one of those - and there's even a KAL. Whoop! Love it. Love the simplicity of the pattern - this is a meetup pattern for sure.
Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton's funky Colinette jumper from Vogue Knitting - I adore this so much. Priced it at Colinette - £74!! Perhaps this will just stay as a picture then ...
In Oxfam I found this total gem of a Patons pattern book from the seventies;
I really want to make the jumper in Christmas green with white and red reindeer. I'm thinking Home Alone - the American Christmas with everything festive and themed - I need a Christmas jumper. The hat and mittens are a bit overkill though - esp. on a beach in summer....
This intarsia pattern is delicious - it was a man's jumper that was so vile Blogger probably would have rejected the image so I cropped it so that it wouldn't detract from the beauty of the pattern.
I love this librarian-type 3-quarter sleeve top - too cute!
Look at her retro serene-ness - the sleeves are fabulous!
And a final shot of the area where I live [next to Hampden Park, Glasgow] during the UEFA cup final. Both Spanish teams had to come to Glasgow to this weather, poor things.
It's been a busy week, what with Scottish election going on. It was busy for me as I work in an official publications library, so there was displays to put up and continuous updating required as the results trickled in. I was really pleased to see crowds of interested students around the displays reading the latest news on spoiled ballots, results etc. It made it all worthwhile.
On the other hand some of the students have been getting up to high jinks relieving exam stresses in the library - I came in this morning to find books wrapped in pairs of boys underpants [!] stuffed into the roof of the lift ... 
And the Uni has put on a Pedometer Challenge - all staff signing up get a pedometer and those that show the most improvement could win a prize - it's all very compulsive, this step counting. There's all kinds of fancy technologies attached to this gizmo - for example, I've burned 1933 calories walking and walked 2.46 km - the life of a library assistant is quite active it would seem. The challenge begins next week. 
Onto knitty content - does anyone know how many calories knitting burns *thinking of Excel spreadsheets and how much chocolate I could have if I exercise-knit*
Icarus is coming on well -although it's kinda 'saggy'-looking when photographed. The safety pin is where I have an extra yarn-over and absolutely no inclination to drop down and try to fix this. A darning needle and some yarn at the end will sort this out.
I read this blog and her happy accident helped me to see how 2 colours would work with Icarus. I have decided to do the same with mine- with this 'just burst into flames' scorching hot yellow colour.
Posts
