Happy half moon

The colours don't do it justice but I bought a shawl pattern, happy half moon, and found these perfect yarns!  As I have more than I need I thought I'd knit a pair of twinkle mitts which go perfectly with the shawl. We looked for beads first in orange and then gold and low and behold! What did I have but gold beads!
Now I have a slight problem in that I have a tendency to feel my brain is being read. It manifests itself in my feeling I "get" what I want. The beads being perfect example - they weren't even in my stash bag of beads but on my nest of tables where I sit! How spooky is that? Further! I don't recall buying them!
Oh! Before you worry! There is a med I take for it!  My P.doc is keeping me on these!
Now all I need to do is knit them all!?

Baby knitting

 Above are the two Aran colours I plan to put with the cream for Maisie's Blethin Junior Cardigan which will be a first for me as it is knit all in one and steeked!  Below is the yarn I chose to knit a beautiful cardigan for baby Chloe.   I will post details as I go!

Stash and other yarns

this week I'm embarrassed to say I pulled out my extensive stash and flung it at my patient and long suffering friend and shrieked a bit at excitement while we planned how best to sort it all out.

First off we looked at my pile of WIPs which upsets me more than I show!  I had such hopes of knitting it all but instead of finishing it I cast on another and another. Even my friend was shocked especially as we'd already had a session of ripping out!   Like I say I'm embarrassed!

Next we sorted wool into bags e.g. Garments, sock, KSHaze etc. We soon ran out and my son's bed is piled high still!
Photographing it was a mammoth task!  Recording it too!  But it's nearly all done, some 247 lots or types of yarn! Phew!

But how does it make me FEEL?
I feel thrilled! I feel excited! I feel ashamed!  I feel upset!
How did I get so much?
Most of it came about through periods of hyper mood swings where I felt I had to have it, I got pleasure from bringing home bags of it, but some or I should say a lot of it was comfort buying - when my mood was low and/or I suffered with anxiety I would go out and shop for wool or even buy online.

I'm not alone in comfort buying and a friend is bravely cataloging some of hers to sell.
A friend has suggested I do this but I'm a/ not ready and b/ not able to contemplate this just yet.
After my Mother passed away I amassed a huge collection of material and patterns and it took me 12 yrs to bring myself to be brave and discard it. I did it with my husbands help and I think it's a job to do with a sympathetic and true friend as there is an emotional attachment to craft things.

Well in other news I've seen my GP and he's asked me to cut down on my meds and said I was NOT to buy any wool or patterns in the next month!

Curved DPNS

You know me I can't resist a good gadget and when a FaceBook pal asked had I seen these I went on the hunt!  They are a set of three Neko curved DPNs and I bought mine from Tangled Yarn for around a fiver or so.
I've cast on for a pair of socks for my son in Regia highland tweed now discontinued but I have three or four balls left and they match the tension for my new needles.
I caston half to one and half to the other and used the third to knit with and though a bit fiddly to begin with it's surprisingly fun to use.
Our son came down from Sheffield for the week and we enjoyed his company and sorry to see him return yesterday.
In other knitting news I've set up project pages for Sarah's Christmas gifts and another couple of shawls and cowls I want to knit.
I'm not doing too well with my restraint having just ordered a squillion needles including a set all from Meadow Yarns sale items.
My Dr's won't be pleased with me, I'm supposed to be reining in!  My Psychiatrist urged me to drop a med - my happy pill hence why I wouldn't agree! And we compromised at half per day. Today I persuaded my GP to increase the dose and I've got to return in a month with a promise to stop if I start overdoing things.
The trouble with bipolar is that it's hard to say what's my mood disorder and what's my reaction to the loveliness of knitting!  I've always had enthusiasms just lately slightly more!
Oh! And did I say? Have seen the loveliest of tops from Erica Knight studio linen collection! And have the perfect yarn for it. As well as which I want to knit another Rowan Martha!  I've the yarn for that as well!
Next week we shall be back to normal and my friend will come round for a knit and chat while we continue to watch The Killing.
Next time I'll blog on progress on my a year of techniques project.

Support group talk and knitting/yarns etc

 I bought these two balls of WYS dk to knit the High Pines Cowl that I bought ages ago on a whim, the colour is more mustard in real life and I think it will knit well.  I bought them from Ana at Stitch Solihull on the occasion of her shop's 4th birthday celebration.

Below is a progress shot of the lovely Soft Sunday shawl by Suvi Simola Designs, the pattern is easy and very straightforward to follow which makes it a pleasure to knit I've done 4 lace repeats of 8 now.

2

The photos above show progress on this months A Year of Techniques challenge of Intarsia by way of a shawl knit in the fluffy Cumulus by Fyberspates.  Progress is slow on account of the highly challenging pattern instructions - the actual intarsia is a doddle by comparison and while I'm enjoying it I have to confess to finding it a tricky project!
My cat, Bertie, quite enjoys me knitting with fluffy yarns and when he got his teeth into this one I thought I was in trouble - three separate balls of fluffy yarn, a complex pattern a dropped stitch and a cat that wants to sit on your lap does NOT make for a fun experience!  we got through though.

The next three yarns are what I bought from Ana's guests - Coastal Colours and The Knitting Goddess - at her shop's 4th year birthday celebration.  The turquoise and grey from TKG are for the lovely I Heart Stripes shawl by Louise Tilbrook and the other? thats just for being lovely!  I'm sure I'll find a pattern for it.

I went with my knitting friends and we had a good time looking at wool and planning projects and Brenda kindly offered to wind my skeins so I'm all ready to go!

In other knitty news this month, I can report that at last you can enter my sewing room and actually walk on the floor!  all the yarn that was just sitting in corners and in the middle and all around are now bagged and tidied away - thanks to my long suffering dh for the help in this!

I feel somewhat embarassed at having such a lot of yarn, fabrics and other craft stuff but it is my main interest and has come about over many years of collecting.

This month at the Bipolar Support Group we had an interesting presentation and Q&A session with a Pharmacist and we had a talk on the different types of medication including Lithium which quite a few of us are either on or have been on and this coupled with recent article detailing only some 30% of people successfully respond to it, I was able to get my questions answered.
It was so interesting that Alison is going to try and book her for a future session.
The group was fuller than usual this time and it was pretty difficult to get your voice heard.

Crochet

A long term goal of mine is to learn to crochet and with the help of my friend I have been crocheting a throw, it's basically a large never ending granny square in colours to match my wallpaper it looks lovely thrown over my sofa.
I am also doing a series of smaller squares joined together to make a second. I have no interest at the moment in crocheting garments but I would like to expand my interest so a couple of friends and I are going to Sarah Hazell, tutor, for a workshop in May!
We are crocheting mandalas which is spooky as they are mentioned in this months newsletter from the Bipolar services. In fact strangely they mention topics of interest e.g. Knitting and cross stitch and mindfulness too!  This month we are having a Pharmacist give a talk and there is an interesting article on why Lithium seems to work for 30% of patients and not for the remaining 70%. I'm one of the lucky ones that does respond but unfortunately a weight gain was inevitable and I've struggled with this the past few years. To that end dh and I are on a quest to eat healthily and already we have lost a few lbs.  
Next week I will report on the Bipolar support group.

A Year of Techniques- March

This year is going to be exciting because I've joined in with the lovely Jen Arnall-Culliford for her A Year of Techniques in which each month brings a new project to knit and learn a technique and we've had the first - helical stripes knitting a pair of lovely arm warmers, pattern by Jen herself. At the end of the year we will have covered 12projects and a book to keep, plus patterns.
I am glad that I joined in and Jen's ravelry  group is lovely and friendly and no one tut tutted at my minor mistakes in this first project.
I wound the ball that I got from buying the kit (optional) and set off knitting picking up the technique easily and I enjoyed this project very much - it was fun to do and I'd do it again.
Next week sees month two and all we know is the needle size and gauge- I shall have to be patient!