It's True

I am a Knitting Champion. In the 17 days of the Winter Olympics, I challenged myself to complete a Baby Bubbles cardigan, and my god, I did it. It is the trickiest knit I have ever done, and IMHO, the most gorgeous:

If only I found writing academic papers/grants this satisfying...

Just Busy....

I have had a few enquiries along the lines of, "What happened to the blog?" I've just been busy, nothing sinister. But thanks for the urges to get my arse back into gear!

One of the things I have been doing is this:

(no, I don't know why it is sideways, but if I start trying to fix it, this post will never go out!)

This is a baby cardigan for friends of ours who had a baby boy in Dec. I am now also finished with 1.5 of the sleeves. I'm knitting furiously because this is my Olympic knitting project, so my deadline is Sunday. Wish me luck with the button-band ;-/.

As most of you are not interested in my knitting, but are interested in Foxy, here he is:

Cousin M

Welcome to the world cousin M!

Is she beautiful or what? She was born at 11pm-ish on the 10th. Her Mum said no to an epidural in the hopes that the baby would come before 9-11, and it worked. (For the record, she said she would NOT forego an epidural again -- love her.)

They didn't know what colour they were having, and I must say that my knitterly heart skipped a beat when I heard it was a girl. I pulled out some left-over cashmere and produced this:

I'm rather pleased with it. It is the heartfelt pattern X 5, with yarn threaded through. The only modification I made was to knit on smaller needles and not bother with the felting.

Full UFO update

These are the other things I've finished:

I decided that making the baby hat reversible would make it way too warm and bulky, so I got two hats out of it. Not exactly how I would have done them had I known I wouldn't be stitching them together, but they are still way cute.

I also finished the wristlets (no photo) and the stripey socks (see profile pic). So for UFOs, I have 3 left. The bl**dy tea-cosy (TODAY), the heart-sinking cardi-coat, and the baby socks. The lace scarf does not count because I love it. Not sure the baby socks count either. ANYWAY. I'm getting there!

Right now, I am enjoying my Saturday morning while Nearest & Dearest is at socatots with Foxy. They love it. I think I love it more. I think I am going to procrastinate on the tea-cozy by planning my Christmas knitting projects. I'm so rock & roll.

Saturday Morning Bliss

Nearest & Dearest has long talked about her ideal Saturday morning with kids -- cartoons, football/soccer, McDonald's happy meal. The dreamy part is that this would leave me to have a lie-in, followed by a bit of me-time at home.

I thought it might be several years before this fantasy would come true, but they are doing it, RIGHT NOW. N & D found a nearby Socatots with an opening, and they're there! I think Foxy will love it, as he chases any football he sees, trying to join in with bigger kids.

My plan is that this will be time at the sewing machine, churning through that particular stash, but today I am meant to be catching up on a little work (Foxy and I were off all week with his hand, foot and mouth issue). Instead, I have tidied the living room and am going to sit and listen to the latest Cast On while working on UFO no. 5. By the end of this weekend, I should have only 3 projects left, one of which is the wonderful lacey scarf, so only 2 actual UFO's left. Good thing -- I'm itching to start something new with cables...

Knitting UFOs

OK, I've made an inventory of my knitting unfinished objects. It's a long list, but I feel better already, having them documented.

1. These are wristlets for TAG. It's sort of cheating to list them, because I have 2-3 more rounds left to do, and planning to finish them straight after posting! They also don't really count because I started them less than a week ago, so they are just a current project ;-).


2. Again, this one isn't really a UFO because it is a current project, and it's what I want to be knitting ALL THE TIME. I started it on Saturday evening during the unexpected 4 hours to myself. It's my first stab at lace knitting, and it's turning out terrifically. It's a scarf in fingering weight yarn, so I was able to shop from my extensive stash of sock yarn. I got the idea from Jenae who had made one and turned me on to the designer who sells her patterns at knitspot.com. It's the tivoli pattern. Yummy. (But it will be on the needles for a LONG time).


3. These are a pair of vanilla socks (easy Regia pattern), done in knit picks coney island. They are fun and easy, but for some reason I had put them aside and forgot all about them. This will be the project I now carry around with me, now that the wristlets are done.


4. This is the class sock from Sensational Knitted Socks. They should work as baby socks, though may be a bit feminine for Foxy ;-)


5. This one I am actually not dreading. It is a reversible hat for Foxy's Eastbourne cousin. It was meant for Christmas, and I didn't make the deadline. I think it's not going to take too long though.


Now we get to the true UFO's, those projects that make my heart sink at the thought of working on them :-/.

6. A bloody tea cosy. I believe all I need to do is finish seaming it. It is for our very good friends, the Fun GIrls. I made the mistake of letting them choose the pattern. Never again -- I don't like it. It's also going to be way too small. I'll have to find a one-cup tea-pot and hope it fits that. Very unsatisfying.


7. This isn't even a UFO, just a small mending job (i.e., hateful sewing job). This is a beautiful hot water bottle cover made of delicious pink cashmere. But the buttons were never right, and I need to replace them (only one is left hanging off the back). I need to find suitable buttons, and then find a tutorial on the net because I clearly don't know how to attach buttons properly.


8. Remember the cushion covers? Still not done. I am making two, so four squares of knitting. 3 are done. Then I started the fourth, and was reminded just how much I HATE intarsia. I set it aside. I have decided to frog it and just do some simple stripes.


9. Last, and definitely worst, is the dreaded cardi-coat. I HATE working with the yarn, and I hate what I have left to do. Pick up stitches to make ribbed borders, and seaming. Ick. BUT, I know that I will actually enjoy wearing it, so I WILL get this done.


In an ideal world, I would like to have around 3 projects on the go at any one time. So I best get busy!

Finally, I organized my stash. It's mostly sock yarn because I ordered a bunch from knit picks during our trip to America. This bag makes me feel happy and secure, especially now I know it is also a good weight for lace knitting:


This little bag is not so pleasing, but fine. It contains supplies for lots of baby booties (great quick gifts), a hat for a little girl, a purple gauzy scarf, and a pair of fingerless mittens.


I don't need to do any yarn shopping for a while...

I'm Back!

What a difference a week makes. I am feeling FABULOUS. Not only is term over, but I had a lovely weekend away with my Mum. We went to the Earnley Concourse. Mum did a course on short story writing. She was a hit! The other folks on her course kept grabbing me and telling me what a clever Mum I have, and how great her stories were. I did, well, nothing. It's not the done thing, but I knew I'd have very little energy, and nothing took my fancy enough to be worth it. I loved every minute of it.

It's a beautiful place with lovely grounds:



I tried to get a nice picture of Mum, but she pulls odd faces. Fortunately she suggested that we take pics of each other taking pics:


It was absolutely perfect Spring weather.


And I excelled at doing nothing.


Seriously, in two days all I managed was to turn a couple of heels and listen to the whole of Freakonomics (LOVE popular social science), and the start of A Tale of Two Cities thanks to Heather of Craft Lit. This is something I would NEVER manage to plough through on my own. Heather cuts in during the first couple of chapters and explains what in heck is going on. Now I'm hooked. Who knew?

All this was interspersed with PLENTY of yummy, if slightly institutional, food:


This place attracts a certain clientele.

Lovely people. I'm not dreading retirement.

Knitting, Surfing, & Cookies

Due to the snow, my work week is now 2 rather than 4 days. Hence, today I planned to use Foxy's naps to do some work. Hmm...not appealing. Instead I find myself doing this:

OK, you can't make out the screen shot, but it's Amazon, and the books ain't academic. And see that red tin? It's filled with home-made choc chunk cookies. Nice.

Knitting update. Over the Christmas period and beyond, I made 3 scribble scarves from the original Mason-Dixon book. I made one in brown for my MIL, one is greeny-blue for my SIL (see Chrimbo post), and I have just finished one in cream for Foxy's last surviving great-grandparent, Gigi. It's easier to see the lacey-look with this one:

And here's what it looks like on (I know, I need to weave in those ends):

I think it will suit her perfectly, and so easy to post! I used Rowan kidsilk haze for the light fluffy stuff, and Debbie Bliss 100% silk for the heavier rows. I loved how quickly these knit up. Two evenings of telly, and voila.

2009 is going to be the year of the sock. I'm ready to move on from the Regia pattern, and learn some cabling and lace knitting in the process. I ordered a bunch of KnitPicks stuff over Christmas and Mum brought it back from California for me. What a treasure-trove! I ordered 6 different small circulars, and have come to the conclusion that wooden needles really don't suit me. I'm too tight for their stickiness. Loving the nickel-plated, and I like them SMALL. I'm working on a little ribbed pair for Foxy now on 2.25mm:

I love things made in his size. And I have enough yarn in this gorgeous colour-way for all 3 of us to have a pair. Cute or geeky, it's all good in my book.

Festivities

We have had a great holiday. Here are some highlights.

First, Christmas Day was fab. Credit crunch? What credit crunch?

The boys were indeed spoilt:



And my knitted gifts went down a treat:



Lucky Foxy also received this handknit from Grandma:


Unfortunately we didn't take any pics of the meal, but trust me, it was oh so good. No poultry in sight! Yay for cow.

Next, boxing day. The traditional walk along the seafront.




On to Oxford for a certain small boy's birthday. Wholesome family fun. We made pizzas...


before a Pokemon birthday cake...

Foxy loves the chaos & merriment of his cousins' house. They are a family of 6. I find it a bit much sometimes, but Nearest & Dearest & Foxy were plotting family expansion, I'm sure of it...



Our final event was New Year's Eve with our favourite ladies. It does seem that Nearest & Dearest spent most of the holiday cooking:

Leggy lollie made us all cocktails...

which resulted in a rather slow New Year's Day...

and our guests left at 3 in the afternoon in their PJs:


It was all just so great. I loved having a family Christmas.


Back to work tomorrow.

Academic Life

Mostly, I love my job. The actual work I do is interesting, and I generally feel competent. My issue is that I really don't much like academics ( a few family and friends excluded, of course). What a bunch of self-important wankers. I don't mind people taking their work seriously, I cannot bear people who take THEMSELVES doing their work seriously. I was in a meeting this morning where a buffoon of a man (my dean, no less) referred to himself as ectopically placed (outside his discipline). ?!!? Where do I begin.

Fortunately for me, sock knitting is my meeting companion:

And for much of the time, I can sit in my office doing my own thing: