I can finally reveal some of the Secret Knitting I’ve been doing over the past few months as one of the parcels I sent off has arrived at it’s destination.

In a few earlier posts I’ve mentioned that I was taking part in a Prayer Shawl Swap and my partner was Karen who has just received her shawl. This swap was a wonderful experience, not just a knitting challenge but a real opportunity to find quiet time to knit and meditate on something for a partner. Sending “good vibes” across the world to help another knitter with a problem.. I feel as though each stitch was somehow imbibed with love and I hope the shawl will provide comfort and warmth in the coming winter months. The idea of Prayer Shawls is explained a little more here.

I started the shawl in Cornwall at my in-laws, sitting in the swing seat looking out over the sea –

I spent quite a lot of time knitting in the “orchard” ie the end of our garden where the apple tree grows and I’ve planted a plum, a cherry and another apple all very small at the moment. I like sitting up at that end as it’s away from the house and temptations to switch on the tv or do chores…

and this is the finished shawl, I love it and hope that Karen does as well. I may have to knit myself one of these… Pattern is Tri-aran-angle by Lizzi Jennings and can be found at Knitty.com

Today I’ve been working on the new sock for the Vintage Socks KAL I moderate, we’re knitting the Child’s French Sock during October & November. I’ve picked some Yarn Yard sock yarn in “Pink Ribbon” for this sock. It seemed particularly appropriate yarn as it is sold in aid of Breast Cancer charities and October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

So far I’ve knit the cuff and 5 and a half repeats of the leg, the pattern calls for 11 repeats but I don’t know that I shall do that many. I don’t like the legs of my socks to be very long and it’s already 5″.

I’ve just signed up for Sock Wars, and the 1st rule of Sock Wars is….you must talk about Sock Wars so here goes.

The
original and bloodiest extreme knitting tournament has returned! If you
are brave enough sign up to do battle and you will be emailed a top
secret file on 13th October. This dossier contains the details of your
target and a pattern with which to assasinate them.

To
kill your target you must knit them the pair of socks in the pattern
and mail it to them.Once your target receives your parcel they are dead
and must post their death on the “fallen comrades” section of the
sockwars site.

They
must also immediately send you details of their intended target (who
becomes your next person to assassinate) along with their unfinished
knitting (which becomes your new weapon).

All the while this is going on, someone has been assigned you as their target…

Prepare to live in fear… Kill or be killed!

THE RULES OF SOCK WARS

1. The first rule of Sock Wars is: You must talk about Sock Wars.
2. The second rule of Sock Wars is: You MUST talk about Sock Wars. (no really, for this to be a success we need as many combatants as possible)
3. Two socks to a fight.
4. One fight at a time.
5. No shirts, no shoes, just socks
6. Fights will go on as long as they have to.

THE NITTY GRITTY Sign ups close by 23:59 on 1st October 2007. To sign up as a participant go here now!

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Tags: sockwars knitting

This week I got a huge package of goodies from a “swap buddy” in New Zealand. We were partners in a swap-bot swap sometime ago when I sent her a yarn ball wrapped in a rose patterned tea towel. She loved the tea towel so much she asked if I could get more items in the same pattern and we organised a little private swap. I sent her some more rose patterned goodies, some English delicacies (Jaffa Cakes and Batchelors Cup-A-Soup) and some other goodies and in return she sent me all of this –

A tea-towel with New Zealand flowers on it, a squeezy tomato ketchup bottle, “Tiki” salad servers, a copy of “The Listener” a NZ magazine, 2 balls of The Wool Company Utiku Merino Possum Yarn (yes yarn made from possums!), a bath tea-bag, a NZ fridge magnet, button badge, NZ magnetic poetry (lots of NZ expressions I had to have explained), the cutest little brooch with two tiny needles and a piece of knitting, “Twisters” (NZ cheesy corn snack – bit like Wotsits), 2 bars of dark NZ chocolate and a jar of NZ marmite.

Phew! a real slice of New Zealand here in my own back garden in England. The magnetic poetry had to have some translation so here are some New Zealand phrases –

“jandals” = flip-flops in UK, thongs in US/Australia and most of world
“pack a sad” = to react negatively rather than get on with things. You might say “don’t pack a sad” meaning lighten up.
“smoko” = morning or afternoon tea (even if you don’t smoke). Someone will say “lets have a smoko” meaning lets take a break
“piker” = a kill-joy or someone who won’t join in
“rattle your dags” = hurry up
“puckeroo” = refers to something that has broken

I was interested to receive the marmite as I had assumed marmite was peculiar to England, although I was aware that in Australia they have vegemite (a poor imitation). To those of you in the US who have no idea what marmite is, it is a yeast extract which you spread on toast or sandwiches, it’s very salty and has a taste which you either love or hate. This love/hate is used as the advertising for marmite in the UK. Marmite is also used to flavour Twiglets which are baked corn snacks which look remarkably like twigs (hence the name)

Whilst I was putting the NZ Marmite away in the cupboard I realised that I had 4 different jars of yeast extract in my kitchen cupboards. I immediately wondered whether they all tasted the same or if each different variety had its own distinct taste….an experiment followed.

I gathered the 4 jars of yeast extract as follows –

From l-r, Vegemite from Australia, original Marmite from England in the new squeezy bottle, Marmite from New Zealand and limited edition Guinness Marmite (made with Guinness yeast extract apparantly)

Next I got two volunteer tasters (me and J) and armed them with pitta bread with which to tast the yeast extract.

We began with the Vegemite, the texture was much more solid than the other three spreads and the colour is the lightest brown of the four. The taste was quite subtle and not as salty as British marmite

Next was the Guinnes Marmite, I was interested to know if this tasted any different to normal marmite or whether this was a marketing ploy. The texture of the Guinness Marmite was the “runniest” of the four and the colour very dark brown. The taste was different to ordinary marmite but still very strong and salty. I love it!

Third was original Marmite, still the best in my opinion. The new squeezy bottle is an inspired innovation IMHO, I use marmite quite a lot in cooking. I’m vegetarian and when I make bolognaise sauce or chilli with soya mince I often add a spoon of marmite for colour and taste – squeezing it in from the plastic bottle is much easier than scraping marmite from a spoon into the saucepan. Still, I digress – original marmite slighty firmer texture than Guinnes Marmite but still runnier than the vegemite, colour very dark brown. Taste, very strong salty taste – delicious.

Finally, the New Zealand Marmite – of the four this was the darkest in colour being almost black and was only slightly less solid than the Vegemite. The taste was very different to the other three – whilst they were all clearly salty with the Vegemite being just more subtle, the New Zealand Marmite tasted completely different and was almost sweet. I like it but not as much as British Marmite. I will have to try it on hot toast which is always the best way to eat marmite.

So the results are that they all taste, and indeed look, very different.

Earlier in the day we attended the wedding of our friends Ceri & Mick at All Saints Church, Marlow. This is Ceri in her beautiful dress

I wore MS3 for the first time to the wedding and here I am in my outfit including the Mystery Stole 3 (btw that’s a feathered head-dress on top of my head, my hair is not quite that wild or bright pink)

I’m really pleased with the way MS3 turned out and it went perfectly with my wedding outfit. The yarn was Patons Fairytale 2ply and I knit on 4mm circulars. Here are some more photos of it taken in the garden when we got home from the wedding this evening.

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Tags: marmite, vegemite, yeast extract, wedding, ms3

Back in March my DH bought me (amongst other lovely knitty gifts) 6 skeins of Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK in a shade called “Cocoa” – a lovely chocolatey brown. He immediately went into a slump about it declaring “I made a mistake, the colour’s horrible, 70’s sludge brown…and I didn’t buy enough for you to make anything ….”

I, on the other hand, thought the colour was wonderful and immediately decided it needed to be a v-neck slip-over/vest/tank-top (whatever word you use to describe a sleeveless jumper/pullover)…so I started looking for a pattern I liked. I was unable to find anything immediately and so the yarn got stashed but everytime I see a tank-top pattern I dig it out again to see if it would work….I was on the point of designing something myself (never designed a pattern but willing to give it a go) when I saw this post on Roo’s blog.

The pattern is Ms Marigold available to purchase at Zephyr Style

This is it – it’s perfect! So, I hope Roo doesn’t mind me being a copy-cat (they do say that it’s the greatest form of flattery) but I immediately bought the pattern and cast on yesterday evening. This is how far I got by the time I went to bed last night

and here is a close up showing the lovely way the stitches form up – think this is due to the twist in the yarn which is quite pronounced

I am really loving knitting this – it’s one of the most enjoyable knits I’ve had for ages. The yarn is gorgeous, it is so soft and slips through your hands. The pattern seems perfect for it and I managed to do the increases leaning left and right to for this wonderfully neat shoulder section

Doesn’t show brilliantly in that pic – I’ll post a close up later. Overall I am really pleased with it so far, hope my joy continues and I end up with a lovely tank-top to wear to work later in the year over a blouse!

I’ve also signed up to another swap (I just can’t help myself) this one is the Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap 3, and I’m not even a Harry Potter fan (I have never read any of the books although I have been to the films accompanying my Potter fan hubby) However from what I’ve read about rounds 1 & 2 on peoples blogs it sounds like a fun swap and whatever I end up making I can gift to one of the Potter mad people I’m surrounded by.

I filled in the sign up form so I hope I’m in, I was “sorted” into Gryffindor

Get Sorted By The Hogwarts Sorting Hat!

which is good because if I’m to receive a sock kit to make something I’m going to gift I’d want it to be Gryffindor.

MS3 was completed some time ago but haven’t had time to block it or blog it – just pinned it out on the floor of the spare room as I am off to a wedding tomorrow and I am thinking of wearing MS3 …mind you the weather has perversely for a Bank Holiday weekend turned hot and sunny so I probably wont need a shawl.

Here I am blocking it

and here is a close up of the “wing”

Finally, non knitting activity in my house mainly involves my new chickens so here they are –

this is Morwenna a white bantam leghorn

this is Demelza a red mottled leghorn

Demelza made a bid for freedom on Thursday night, I was putting them to bed for the evening and I am trying to get them used to being handled by people but she slipped through my hands and ran off into the undergrowth in my garden…which is mainly brambles through which I had to crawl to get her as it was getting dark and I didn’t want her out there with my cat and the foxes…..

and this is Tegen a blue bantam leghorn

Tags: jaeger, merino, ms marigold, chicken, ms3, hogwart

Once again another weekend in the Wendys Woolies household where our feet didn’t touch the ground and we spent a total of about 2 hours in our own home!

Starting on Friday I headed over to my mum’s near Oxford and we then went into Oxford to get the bus to Victoria Station in London. From Victoria we got the train to Crystal Palace to attend the Norwich Union Grand Prix Athletics meeting at the Crystal Palace stadium.

We had been a little worried in the last couple of weeks that we were going to have to sit in the rain watching the athletics but the British summer seems to have finally arrived this weekend and so we were sat in wonderful sunshine all evening.

The athletics was really good –

This is GB sprinter Craig Pickering getting ready for the 100 metres (our seats were right in line with the 100m start line)

this is Jo Pavey after she ran the 3000m

this is the sprinters lining up for the final of the Men’s 100m

This is Chris Tomlinson jumping his way to victory in the Long Jump with a jump of 8.16

Unfortunately this evening didn’t end the best way, it was Jason Gardener’s final race meeting and the final event of the evening was the Mens 4×100 relay. Jason ran a wonderful 1st leg and then Craig Pickering and Marlon Devenish managed to drop the baton on the change over between 2nd and 3rd legs!

Still, the night finished with Jason doing a lap of honour in an opentop car and then a firework display

Saturday we had a lovely lunch with some good friends, my friend Julia is turning 40 on Thursday so invited some friends and family to spend an afternoon with her at the Swan at Streatley, a lovely hotel on the River Thames.

I’ve known Julia most of my life – we used to go to Sunday school together from the age of about 5 and all through our childhoods myself, Julia and Julia’s sister Alison were inseperable…they were my substitute sisters as I don’t have any sisters of my own. Julia is about 18 months older than me and Alison is a year younger than me so we’re all very close.

The beautiful summer weather felt like it had been laid on especially, we started with Pimms on the lawn by the river,

(Yes I know that’s a pint, we don’t seem to have any good photos of actual Pimms being consumed!)

A wonderful lunch in the restaurant overlooking the river

first the main course

followed by dessert

and then birthday cake

luckily we managed to prevent Julia’s hubby from flinging the cake at her in the manner of the Phantom Flan Flinger…..the cake was decorated with a photo of the birthday girl aged about 3 or 4 years old and the revelation actually reduced her to tears she was so touched

After lunch (actually about 4pm by the time we got up from the table!) we took our drinks out to the terrace

and had a stroll along the river bank

We finally left at about 6.30 having had an absolutely fantastic day – good food, good weather and good friends, what more could you ask for?

With all this social activity I didn’t get to see Clue 5 – and the theme reveal – for the Mystery Stole until late on Saturday evening. I printed it out at my mum’s and then sat with J and my brother watching Hot Fuzz on DVD whilst I started on Clue 5.

I got to the end of the first chart on Saturday evening, then yesterday we were driving back from my mums and, having been away all weekend, I had some washing and ironing to do yesterday so not much more progress during the day.

Sunday evening was the final chapter of my busy weekend and it wasn’t an anticlimax – I got to meet up with one of my blog friends, Roo who writes her blog at RooKnits.

Roo lives in the Midlands but was coming down to my neck of the woods for a training course so we went to pick her up at High Wycombe train station

We drove to the nearby village where Roo is attending the course and spent an evening in the local pub with her. We had a lovely evening and it was so nice to meet someone in person whom I’ve been chatting with online for a while.

Roo was my partner in the Sockret Pal swap, she wasn’t my original spoiler but they welched and she was swapped in to spoil me and did a wonderful job….coincidentally at the same time as the Sockret Pal swap we both took part in an Afghan Square swap and she was one of the partners who sent me a square in that!

However, when I got home from meeting Roo I did manage to complete the final few rows of MS3 clue 5 and here it is

The theme has been revealed as Swan Lake and this final section is to be a “wing”, the pattern is a feather lace

I love this idea of a non-symmetrical stole with a wing-shaped curving end and can’t wait to see how this finishes!

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Tags: ms3party athletics crystal palace

I spent this afternoon watching the Tour de France and knitting up clue 3 of the Mystery Stole – Simpson was helping me

here he’s watching the excitement as Linus Gerdemann went on his break up the Col de Colombiere

(not as exciting as it would have been watching British rider Bradley Wiggins on his 190km break yesterday…except I was at work grumble, grumble, grumble)

Combining two of my loves – knitting and cycling – fantastic.

Here is the outcome of my efforts

I’m really enjoying this KAL and getting the clues each week is very exciting. Knitting something when you don’t know what the finished product will look like is really good fun.

technorati tags:MS3, Knitalong, knitting, lace

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Seems like ages since I’ve blogged – so many other things happening…..anyway here’s what’s been happening on the knitting front

First, more progress on the Mystery Stole – clue 2 was out last Friday and I knitted it up over the weekend

I do like the way this is turning out although I’m a little annoyed that though the materials list originally posted stated 1200 yards of yarn apparantly that was then amended to 800 which I didn’t know. So I could have used the cobweb mohair I first wanted to use after all….never mind, if it turns out well perhaps I’ll knit another….or I find another lace project for the mohair…

Here’s a close up of the motif in the centre of the point of the stole with the beads

Next up is Nigel the Nautiloid – he started out like this

then grew to this

and finally he looks like this

very silly I think you’ll agree? The pattern is from knitty.com, knit on 2.75mm Brittany Birch dpns using odds and ends of wool from one of the huge bags I inherited from my Grandma. He’s a possible for an amigurumi/stuffie swap I signed up for at swap-bot. There are several themes you have to work to and one which my partner said she liked was “Festival of the Sea” which he fits nicely.

I’m working on a crochet amigurumi mermaid as well so depending how that turns out I’ll choose which to send.

Finally, I just cast on another lace project, this is a scarf for my mum’s birthday. Pattern is from Victorian Lace Today, yarn is 2ply silk/cashmere from Posh Yarn in Kelpie, knit on 4.5mm bamboo Addi circular.

The scarf is knit with two end borders and a long middle section. This is the first border which you knit across so the points on the left will form the end of the scarf and the edge on the right will have stitches picked up to start knitting up the main section of the scarf.

My mum wears a lot of hand-painted silk and lacey scarves with jackets and tops so I think she’ll like this. Her birthday is the 25th July so I should get finished – she and my dad just started out on the Coast to Coast walk today and will finish on the 26th July. The walk is 190 miles across the North of England walking from St Bees Head on the West coast to Robin Hood’s Bay on the East. I should point out that my family are all hill walkers and we spent all our holidays as children walking in Yorkshire or Wales or the Lake District (and still a lot of holidays now!) Mum and Dad walk at least once a week locally and visit the Lake District a couple of times a year and have done several long distance walks – Hadrians Wall a  few years ago and the Cumbria Way with J and I about 4 years ago.

We’re going to meet them in Robin Hoods Bay on the 26th so we’re getting a weekend away then.

That’s about all I have time for right now – lots more things I should blog about so will post again very soon

technorati tags:amigurumi, nautiloid, lace, MS3, mystery, stole, kal, Knitalong, knitting, poshyarn

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I have started not one but two, yes two, lace projects this past week. I decided at the very last moment to sign up for the Mystery Stole 3, the first clue was posted on Friday and I joined up on Thursday.

For anyone who doesn’t know about the Mystery Stole this is a knitalong where a new “clue” is issued once a week. Each clue is the next chart instalment so you start knitting with no idea of what the finished stole will look like. Each time the designer picks a theme for the stole and one of the “games” is to try to guess the theme as each section is unveiled.

I had been looking at this knitalong a couple of weeks ago so knew the materials included lace weight yarn and beads. I had in my mind the remaining 3 skeins of cobweb mohair from Natural Dye Studio from the 5 I bought some time ago, 2 of them having become the melon pattern shawl I knit as a wedding gift a few weeks ago. I knew I had some seed beads in a metallic pink/purple that would go perfectly with that yarn. However, when I read the materials list fully I realised that the yarn requirement was for 1200 yards and each skein of cobweb mohair is only 200 yards so I only have 600 yards….hmm rethink.

Well, I bought 7 skeins of lace weight yarn from Posh Yarn last week so some of that could be used……I had 3 skeins of 2ply Cumulus (that’s the blue in the middle) so I could get some beads to go with that….

…except the Mystery Stole instructions say that the theme would be best served by knitting with white or black or grey yarn……so back to the stash…

….where I found 3 balls of Patons Fairytale 2ply in white remaining from the last baby shawl I knit. I also had a bag of clear seed beads so I was away. This is the progress at the end of the first half of clue 1 (which was 2 charts) which I had completed by late afternoon on Friday

Obviously unblocked but this looks like it’s going to be a pointed end to a stole – I have knit the remainder of clue 1 now but no photo yet as it’s been raining and dull all weekend (which is why so much knitting has been done).

Whilst waiting for the MS3 clue I decided on Thursday night that I could not resist the call of the Posh Yarn I’d bought and so I cast on to knit a triangular shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I cast on at 9pm on Thursday and knit through House & Shark so 2 hours later I had this

and here is a close up of the pattern – which is the Cherry Leaf pattern

the yarn is Eva 2ply from Posh Yarn in “Houri”. I looked up the meaning of Houri, in Islam it apparantly is a beautiful maiden who awaits the devout Muslim in paradise (please feel free to correct me any muslim readers out there!!!) They are described in the Qur’an as “purified wives” or “spotless virgins”. Apparantly the most appropriate English translation of the Islamic term Hur’in would be “Companions pure, most beautiful of eye” – I hope that my shawl lives up to the name.

It is certainly sensual being silk and cashmere and so light it slips through your fingers. As the weekend was so miserable I got loads done on this shawl and it is now up to 14 repeats so only one more to go before the edging starts!

technorati tags:lace, shawl, poshyarn

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Sock Madness begins today. WTF?? I hear you all cry….go check here for the details but basically it’s a sock knitting contest.

There are four divisions in the competition and the first round is a simple time trial against everyone else in my division, there are 34 in my division and the first 16 to finish in the first round will go through to the next stage. After that it’s a knockout competition competing one on one with another knitter in the division with the winner of each pairing going forward to the next stage…..like a knockout football competition.

The pattern for each stage is released on a set date and then it’s knit, knit, knit to try and finish a pair first. The first pattern for round 1 is released today between 8am and 9am E.S.T which is (I think) 6 hours behind G.M.T so I have till about 2 this afternoon.

We’ve been told that the sock requires a skein of solid and a skein of variegated so I spent yesterday evening searching through my stash looking for good combinations

This is the Sock Yarn Stash – isn’t it pretty? We have, from l-r,

top row – 2 balls of Opal Uni (sans ball band), 2 balls of 4ply Sock Yarn from Angel Yarns, 5 balls of Opal Rodeo in various colours.

2nd row – 2 skeins Artyarns Supermerino colour 139 (swap goodies), then there are four skeins of sock yarn from The Natural Dye Studio – 2xalpaca/merino “liquorice”, 2 x Blue Faced Leicester “Apple Blossom”, 2 x Alpaca Silk (Feb’s sock of the month), 2 x Blue Faced Leicester (Jan sock of the month I think), then 4 skeins of Posh Yarn – Lucia “Pop”, Saskia “Heroine”, Lucia “Passion” (from my wonderful Sockret Pal) and Lucia “Fizz

Last row – Sockret Pal yarn from Scout’s Swag, Cascade Fixation and 2 balls of Italian Sock wool.

After much deliberation and consulting a colour wheel , these are the possibles

This is Opal Uni in pale blue and Natural Dye Studio Alpaca/Silk – this was the February yarn in the Sock Yarn Club. This combination makes me think of summer flowers or sunshine in a blue sky…

Next is more Opal Uni, this time in green and Posh Yarns Saskia in “Heroine”. The picture doesn’t do either of these justice, the green is much brighter and lusher and the Posh yarns positively shines. Not sure if this might be too busy?

Finally,

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/163/416419707_af44fe4bc4.jpg?v=0

4ply sock yarn from Angel Yarns in “Denim” and this months Sock of the Month from Natural Dye Studio – Alpaca/Merino in a colour Amanda describes as “Liquorice” – it does remind me of liquorice alsorts!

I have to say, this last combination is my favourite – I’ll have to wait to see what the pattern is like, if it’s something I really like then I’ll use the Denim/Liquorice, if not then I’ll save that combination for something else.

In a flurry of joining I have also signed up for International Sock Exchange 4 and expect to receive my swap partner on the 15th March. This is the same day that I will get my swap partner for Secret Pal 10 – this will run from March to June.

I am about to send out my last package for the Sockret Pal swap – the “reveal” package. Getting my last few bits ready for that then I need to write a little note revealing who I am to my pal. I’ve enjoyed this swap which is why I’ve signed up for 2 new ones as this is ending.

I’m now sitting with baited breath awaiting the start of Sock Madness!!!

technorati tags:socks, sockmadness, knitting

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I nearly got them finished for Valentines, just had the toe to do which I managed to finish at lunchtime. J seems very happy with them, I’m pleased with how the stripes arranged themselves on these socks, particularly round the heel and gusset.

These socks are for the Vintage Socks Knitalong – Feb/March sock was this, the Gentleman’s Plain Winter Sock. I really enjoyed knitting this sock and it’s perfect for self striping wools. The unusual Dutch Heel looks good and J says it fits well. I think he’ll probably wear these a lot, which is good. This is definitely a pattern I will knit again.

I made one mod to the pattern – I used the Kitchener graft on the toe whereas the pattern says to simply draw the wool through the stitches and pull up. I didn’t like the way that looked and it didn’t look good on the foot.

I am also submitting these socks to Project Spectrum, the Feb/March colours being blue, grey and white.

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