Noro sock

I finished my first noro sock, the colours are lovely and I have plenty left for second sock.
My Fayer is knitting up nicely, I finished the front and started first sleeve over the weekend.

A New Year

A very happy New Year to everyone!  The start of a new year always promises to be a time to take stock of the old and plans for the new and I usually have lots of resolutions most of which fizzle out by February!! 
Last year I resolved to be more organised with my knitting and I am happy to say that overall I'm pleased with my resolve, managing to stick to it for MOST of the year.  The biggest change I made was being more organised with my knitting planning and writing out and marking progress in a notebook each project meant that when I put down a project, and then picked it up I could track my position - this has always been a problem for me.  In the first instance I am very VERY prone to casting on and starting squillions of new things and I "promise" myself that I will return to a current project just once I have the new one started - and yes! you guessed right!  it just ends up all lost and abandoned sitting in the corner.  well.  now they all sit neatly in a bag (I have lots of bags! I have LOTS of projects OTN's so much so that this year I've had to buy extra needles - how bad is that?)

ANYWAY.  This year I am resolved to

1. Finish what I start!
2. Only start one project at a time and not attempt two of the same eg garments
3. Continue to use the notebook and update Ravelry pages
4. Knit more garments this year

Outside of crafty resolutions is the usual and inevitable "I will lose weight/diet" and "I will read more" sigh .. I wish I could be one of those people that grabs it with both hands and attacks with gusto but I know its only a matter of weeks before I'm tucking into cake and flinging the kindle aside in favour of the ipad !

I wish everyone a Happy New Year and good luck with all resolutions and look forward to sharing them with you! x

Socks are done

 As you can see I have finished no.1.sons socks and I have started a new project more on that later x

Woollie bargains

I hit the sales at a mad pace and bought squillions of bargains!  I've got them all stashed on my ravelry page making use of the camera function on my new ipad.  When I get chance I'll take pics to share with you but the highlights include some alpaca cotton for a lovely Kim Hargreaves jumper, some felted tweed for a Martin Storey cardigan and some cocoon for another jumper and some KSH just because! and some fyberspates DK and laceweight also just because!  think thats it .. no! wait .. some purelife renew .. for a jacket! phew .. thats the lot I think.

I'm completely run out of space officially now in my craft room and its over spilling which tells me I need to make 2014 new year resolutions to resolve to KNIT MORE FROM STASH .. every one of my purchases has a pattern or plan in mind so I ought execute this throughout the year or else I shall be feeling very stressed!

So far I have resisted the temptation of HofF sales but no.2.son wants to visit town to buy clothes and cds so I might have to slip in and see what they are offering?  ho-hum so much for no space for more yarn?  If anyone else has the same problem as me they will understand how finely balanced the thrill of a bargain vs. stress of more projects is but we are like addicts aren't we?  and we can't resist - its almost painful - at least I am admitting it!

Happy New Year to everyone - I hope that 2014 is a craftily good one for us all in which we see our stashes diminish and our projects finish - hurrah! x

Happy Christmas

Just to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and look forward to blogging and sharing my knitting with you all in the New Year - I am working tomorrow and expect to be late home then a quick dash up to the local pub with our two sons for a festive evening ahead of Christmas Day which we will spend quietly at home, possibly with my Brother (it depends, not sure as yet what his plans are) or just the four of us.  In any event I wish everyone a MERRY Christmas and hope you gets what you wants for pressie!

Socks and Sherry

Socks and Sherry! what could be nicer on a Sunday morning ahead of a nice relaxing day of knitting?

Being as we are having a pre-Christmas family gathering tomorrow I started making the sherry trifle today and had a slice of swiss roll and a glass of sherry for BREAKFAST! how bad is that!!?

My lovely noro socks are coming along nicely, I love the colours and am glad now that I ripped back and restarted a bigger size, I have CO some 68 stitches this time as the sock was a little snug at 60 st and I didn't want to over stretch them.  The colours are lovely in real life, the photo gives a flavour of it but not as good in fact.

when no.1.son asked for another pair of socks (actually.  it might have been me that suggested he might like a pair.  I forget.  conveniently! he-hee!)  anyway he chose this lovely regia highland tweed dk weight and they are knitting up beautifully and so FAST too!  I did this in just two days, how brilliant is that?  anyway, I hope to have them done before he leaves for uni in the New year but not sure how much I will get done, he may have to wait until his birthday in March.   21.  he will be 21!  how did THAT happen?  I can't believe how the time flies, I can remember being 21 - I still FEEL 21! lol!

On a sad note, my brother, David, rang on Saturday with the very sad news that his Dad, John, had passed away peacefully and in his sleep early on on Saturday morning.  He was there and sat with him peacefully until the end, which I am glad about as the circumstances were such that the Hospice had arranged a meeting with a social worker with a view to transferring him to a nursing home - as "luck" would have it it was postponed as the SW was on holiday, I'm sure John had a much more peaceful time in the Hospice and staff that he was familar and comfortable with - not to mention the stress this situation placed David in.  Keep them both in your thoughts and sympathies please.

Socks - Noro sock yarn & hiyahiya circular needle

Last night I had the urge to CO for a sock using my new 2.5mm hiyahiya circular needle I bought ages ago, I've resisted temptation to CO yet another project in favour of other more pressing patterns but gave in when I "discovered" I had a lovely ball of Noro sock yarn!!  hurrah! its lovely and knitting up SO nicely on my new lovely needle.
I shall knit this when I travel down to fetch no.1.son from his Uni digs next week.

The reason for starting this is for the travel knitting but its good to have a sock on the go especially one that is simple to knit and this will just be a plain sock as the yarn and colours are quite pretty enough without overloading with a pattern.

Finished! my Gala Loop scarf!  I love it, its warm and chunky and keeps my whole front warm which is just what I need this cold weather - the ends are turned up and attached to the knitting to create a "loop" to tuck the end in.

Finally! the TREE!  .. and Bertie joining in by claiming one of the santa stockings as "his" - Lilly can just about squeeze in underneath the tree and even then it wobbles a bit but poor Bertie can't as he is too big!  he tried a couple of times with a worrying wobble that saw the tree tilt alarmingly, he backed out and hasn't tried since which is probably a good thing!
I remember one year coming down stairs to find the tree tilted at a funny angle and thought it must have been my bleary not quite awake eyes, I ignored it the rest of the day until the children (quite small at the time) told me that "daddy had fallen on the tree - picked it up - shook it - and replaced it" after a particularly boozy night with his tennis club pals!   And I hadn't noticed and probably wouldn't have had they not dropped him in it!  (he was in trouble that year!).  anyway, I shall know who to blame this time if this tree collapses in a sorry heap - Bertie!