I am sorry that I've abandoned you all for so long, but I have felt like I've basically achieved so little that it was barely worth writing a post about. But then there's penguins, so I'll at least update those...
FO's
I have finished a total of 3 projects so far this year. Yes, we're well into March, and only 3 finished objects.
You might remember these. I was making them for Gemma over Christmas. I am really quite pleased with them, because they fit well, Gemma reports that they keep her feet toasty warm, and because I managed to get the patterns from the self-patterning yarn to match perfectly on both socks!
The yarn is Rico Design Superba tweed 4-ply, in the colourway 011, and the pattern is my standard 3&1 rib, heel-flap construction, off the top of my head sock pattern, only adapted to fit Gemma rather than me.
As usual, after knitting socks, I needed to take a break from the teeny tiny needles, and knit something a bit less intense on the fingers. So I decided to try brioche knitting for the first time. This is the most amazingly smooshy, stretchy, slouchy, and comfortable hat I've ever made. It's also horribly messy and wrong at the crown, because decreases in brioche confuse me, and I managed to get them out of sync, so half of the crown is made of lovely spiraling decreases, and the other half is a big mish-mash of random decreases. I don't care. It was a learning experience, and it's super comfy to wear.
The yarn for this is Rosie's Moments merino silk DK, in the colourway Stormy Seas, and the pattern is loosely based on Caterpillar Slouch, by Woolly Wormhead, but using a true brioche stitch instead of the faux brioche given in the pattern.
When the girls at Spoilt for Choice saw Gemma's socks, a few of them considered commissioning some for themselves. One of them actually did, and her preference in colours was "girly and pink". I'm just as pleased with this pair, as not only did I succeed in getting them to match perfectly, I also managed to make them fit perfectly using only measurements, never having even seen Cheryl's feet!
The yarn for these is Stylecraft Head over Heels Boho, in colourway 3127, and again, the pattern is my usual 3&1 rib, heel-flap construction, off the top of my head socks, adapted for Cheryl's measurements.
WIPs
There's only 1 WIP that I've been actively working on for the last couple of months, and it's my challenge project for 2018. In the past I have started a number of sweaters for myself, and I very rarely finish them, or if I do it takes several years of them being put into hibernation for several months, or even years at a time before I finally complete them. So this year I have set myself the challenge of starting, and finishing, a selfish sweater, without getting distracted.
So far, it's looking like I might even manage it:
I saw this pattern in Let's Knit magazine last September, and decided that I'd like to make it. It calls for a 100% merino DK, and, serendipitously I thought, King Cole released a new 100% merino DK that same month, and Knit Nottingham were debuting it at their birthday party. It was clearly meant to be.
The pattern is Smart and Stylish Sweater, by Pat Menchini, and the yarn is King Cole luxury merino DK in the colourway "mildew". I'm making it in size 24-26.
Stash Acquisition
I'm not exactly going "cold sheep" this year, but I have decided to be a bit more reserved in my yarn purchases, so even though it's been almost 3 months since my last update, there's not a lot to show you in this section.
Not a lot, but there is some! This was a gift from Dominey, because I couldn't make it to the Nottingham Yarn Expo back in November (I don't get out much, it was February I think before we managed to arrange a knitters meet up when Dominey could give this to me). It's by Jellybeans Yarns, in the colourway "Gothic". Plus there was penguin chocolate :) Dominey is a very lovely person :D
With a marvelous sense of timing, Barbara at Ring-a-rosie's released a huge pile of new yarns that she'd been dying since Christmas, on dad's birthday, when obviously I was up in Newcastle. So of course I had to pop in and pick a few for myself. I was so determined to get the best choices that I was actually the first customer through the door that day who was looking for hand dyed yarn (there was one before me, but she was asking for knitting advice). This is 2 skeins of Marvelous high-twist sock yarn, 4 4-ply mini-skeins, and a crazy Zauberball in the colourway "Indisch Rosa". I also bought the Stylecraft head over heels boho that I used for Cheryl's socks when I bought these, but somehow deleted the photo that I took of everything together before I cast on with the boho. Barbara doesn't name very many of her colourways, and most of them are One-Of-A-Kind, so if you do visit Ring-a-rosie then you may not be able to find these exact colourways, but she does usually have a wide choice of beautiful and unique skeins.
Miscellaneous
The Beast from the East hit on a day that I was travelling from Sheffield to Newcastle. Much stress, and much pretty ensued, but I did make it up there eventually. Once the worst of it had passed, and the A1 north of Newcastle was finally re-opened, we decided to do a day trip to Alnwick, and visit Barter Books. I had never been before. The visit involved driving past 2 metre high snow drifts on either side of the A1, almost getting stuck in the snow down a side street that hadn't been cleared, because I picked the wrong turning when trying to direct us to a park where we could walk Sybil-the-cutest-black-pug, and narrowly avoiding an avalanche that slid off the roof of Barter books just before we pulled out of the carpark. It was all absolutely worth it.
If you're even slightly a bibliophile, as most of my family are, then you will love this place:
Now this needed to be shared anyway, but even more so because while we were there my dad found this:
It's a history of wool, and the wool industry, and it has that amazing old book smell, and it's brilliant!
Penguins
I feel certain that I've missed some new colony members, so please forgive me if you have sent a penguin for me to adopt, and I don't mention him, and do feel free to remind me, so that I can thank you in a future post!
Gel nails are my new thing. After having mine done at the salon a few times, I decided to buy some of the basics for doing my own at home, and I've been practicing some simple nail art too. Which of course includes penguin nails!
My sister found this while Christmas shopping. I still haven't decided if it should be an ornament, or if I should actually use it to eat my crumpets off. I love it either way.
Krissy and her kids chose these for me for Christmas :) Having recently had the bathroom done, I was looking at bathroom storage ideas online, and I noticed that they almost all show a nice neat pyramid of carefully rolled, pristine white towels in the top cubby of any shelving unit. Well ours has penguin bath toys, and a rubber dragon.
Flu season arrived. But I'd had my jab, like a good chronically ill person, so I just got tonsillitis instead. I went to the pharmacist for throat pastilles, and came out with a small cuddly penguin, and a microwavable dragon for Stephen.
PIP
I realise that I had intended for my first post of the year to include some plans and goals for 2018, and that aside from the sweater, and a little bit about reducing my number of yarn purchases, I haven't really done that at all. This is because I am currently feeling very much as though I'm just bobbing along on the the current, and haven't the mental or physical energy to plan, or aim for very much at all. I don't know if this is a bad thing or not, but it's certainly unusual for me. I like to have a plan, even if I have to adapt it and change it as circumstance dictates later on, I feel better when I have a plan. For now though, my plan is simply "survive".
I blame this mindset on having applied for PIP (for people outside the UK, PIP = Personal Independence Payment, and it's a benefit for people with disabilities to help with the additional costs involved when trying to live an independent life while disabled), which took all of my planning capabilities, and not a small amount of help from my friends (Thank you Dave!) Then having been refused it, I feel deflated, afraid, and like I can't possibly have what it takes to appeal the decision, but I know that I must, because over the last couple of years my health and mobility have dramatically declined to the point where I am effectively a prisoner in my house. My world revolves around places that other people can take me, or places within a 5 minute, slow and painful walk of my house.
Without my knitting I would have succumbed to cabin fever long ago, and even that is slowing down as my hands and wrists become weaker and more painful. I don't think that the persistent cold weather is helping either, so let's hope that spring shows up soon!
Take care my darlings!
