So long, and thanks for all the fish
I’ve been a little quiet (aka stressed about things outside the realm of this blog) – but as most of you will know I am leaving this cold and pleasant land behind for a while . . . Central America, baby!
There is a new blog to mark the occasion, and it’s here: http://adioskitty.wordpress.com/
Check it out, spread the word . . . and if you know where in Guatemala the really good weaving classes are at, let me know.
I’ll get back to posting here when I come back, which is currently supposed to be the end of March, but who knows . . .
I feel inferior.
Look at this:
This boy didn’t know how to knit ten days ago. And now? He’s making a hat! With ribbing and stripes and increases and decreases and . . . he can purl English! I can’t.
Pattern details (because I am obsessive like that, and he’s not on ravelry . . . yet!):
Pattern: Turn a Square by Jared Flood (aka brooklyntweed)
Yarn: Mirasol Miski (mmmh, baby llama!)
Needles: 5 mm dpns (mine, though I’m not expecting to see them again)
Cast on: during Sunderland v Arsenal, 4 October 2008
Cast off: disturbingly soon, I’m sure.
Knitter’s Geek Code
Someone mentioned this in the GeekCraft forum recently, so I re-did mine – and here it is:
—–BEGIN KNITTER’S GEEK CODE BLOCK—–
Version: 1.1
KCR++ Exp+ SPM++ Steel ++@ Opt++@ Wood(+) Lux++ Wool++ Cot+ !Nov Stash++ Scale+ Fin-@ Ent FI+>++ Int- Tex+ Lace++ Felt+ Circ++ DPN++ ML– Swatch@ KIP+++ Blog SNB+ EZ+ FO++ WIP++ GaugeF+ AltCr-QXEmSw-Sp
——END KNITTER’S GEEK CODE BLOCK——
Obligatory linkies for people who don’t know what I’m talking about: Knitter’s Geek Code and the Original Geek Code (mine would be boring . . . and full of >s).
In other exciting news, I am now in my new house . . . for the next three and a bit weeks, anyway. I really have to stop moving all my worldly possessions by public transport though. The Central Line at rush hour? Not such a good location for the giant monster suitcase.
I am moving again . . .
. . . in about three hours, to be precise.
So, how did this happen?
Pretty, though, isn’t it? It’s the Hanami Stole in Yarn Addict Merino Lace. Mmmh!
Err, back to packing now!
I’m moving to Shepherd’s Bush / Acton, by the way – having done east (Forest Gate), south (Lewisham) and north (Finsbury Park) London, it’s time to go west!
W00t!
I made progress bars! Completely without any help from my tech support! Many thanks to Yarn Tomato though, who wrote a great, idiot-friendly description on how to do it.
I know there is a ravelry widget, but it’s not supported by wordpress.com (as opposed to wordpress hosted by yourself).
It’s kind of scared – and hopefully motivated – me to put all my projects down though . . . only a month to go!
Uh oh.
It would appear that I have possibly acquired a new hobby.
Involves thread of some variety? Check.
Time-consuming? Check.
Generally regarded as uncool? Check. (maybe knitting is getting too mainstream? 
)
Potential for stash acquisition and project planning that exceeds my probably life expectancy? Check.
The fabric in the photo is from a cute little tin box I bought when I visited the Quilt Museum in York when I was there for Chris and Jo’s wedding. There are 35 charm squares, and they are meant to make a little quilt with appliqued flowers on it. Sod that. I’m going to make a bag . . . or at least attempt one. I should point out that I have no pattern, no quilting book (and the web is woefully uninformative) and no sewing machine. I’m hand piecing, with the English paper method. This is clearly the way madness lies. (Although it may be a potential back up plan for my flight to San Francisco, if they take my (wooden) knitting needles off me.)
(You may also want to note the timing of this post. It’s 3 a.m., and I have to be at my horrendous soul-destroying temp job in 6 hours.)
I’ve been spreading the wool . . . erm, word
I went to Cambridge at the weekend to see some friends of mine, including a baby! yay! – The socks weren’t finished in time so I put an unfinished one on her with the pretext that I wanted to check it for size. Yeah.
None of us was feeling particularly energetic on Friday night, so I got the yarn out again:
I originally taught my alpaca friend (who requested to remain anonymous) a few months ago; he’s really got the hang of it, although he does have a tendency to apparently abandon his knitting motion halfway through and somehow simply transfer the stitch from the left needle to the right, which then confuses him no end. Ali (the human) is a knitter-in-waiting – a perfectionist with a great taste in yarn. Irritatingly, English came much more naturally to him than Continental. And then there’s me in the middle with my second Bay sock (still undecided which bay to name them after).
Please excuse the greasy hair and the nasty acrylic. The sort of photos I would really like to shoot are more like Franklin’s . . .
Ali is also a talented bass player:
I would post about my WIPs, but there are so so many of them at the moment that I think I’ll wait until some of them are actually finished, or at least photographed. You can look forward to something like three pairs of socks, two hats, two pairs of gloves (one with fingers, one without), some baby items, a jumper and as many hats for Innocent smoothies as I can get done before the deadline.
I also have the longest To Do List ever – all the stuff that needs to be done before I go away. Sometimes being an obsessive compulsive perfectionist über-organizer really really sucks. I wish I could just casually stuff random things in my backpack the day before I go and not worry about anything . . . but no. I have a spreadsheet with multiple columns, and different versions of my To Do list organised by different criteria. I’m not joking. When I’m all done I’ll post my Ultimate Pack List (TM).
