Thursday, November 21, 2002
As I work on the first sleeve for the Wendy Wild Spice raglan jacket I'm seized by startitis. Trying to think about finishing the Colinette Point Five sweater doesn't help. Now I seem to be obsessed with knitting some wristwarmers! They're like fingerless gloves with out the little finger bits if that makes any sense. There's a pattern here and a pic of some wonderful ones here.
Wore my new cardi to work and got lots of compliments! It's a cardigan but is more like a jacket because the wool is so thick. It's incredibly warm and I can't wear it for too long because it's easy to over heat! Last Friday I taught my friend Karen to knit. It was a lot harder than I'd thought it would be, I'd forgotten just how difficult knitting can be initially. As she held the needles awkwardly I was worried that my teaching skills weren't up to scratch but then she got the hang of it! I was so thrilled! She'd suggested knitting a scarf as a first project so I gave her some Big Wool and an old pair of 12mm needles (US 17). I have yet to find out how she's progressing but hope that she's doing ok. I gave her some print outs from Learn To Knit that I used when I re-taught myself to knit last year. Hopefully they'll help her as much as they did me. Not sure how much craftiness I'll be able to get up to over the next four days as my aunt and her friend are visiting for a long weekend. My aunt is still surprised that I now knit and sew. Hopefully they won't mind if I do some knitting while we talk. Wednesday, November 20, 2002
I've finished my first knitted garment! The Rowan Big Wool Cardi is now ready to be taken out. I originally finished it on Saturday but found that I'd hadn't sewn it together properly - I'd worked mattress stitch from the wrong side instead of the right side of the fabric. Last night while watching Six Feet Under I undid the stitching but had a near miss when I accidentally cut a knitted stitch instead of a sewn one. I was really worried that I'd wrecked a sleeve but it turned out to be easily fixed. I was lucky and will be more careful next time. I usually try and do some knitting in my lunch break. Today I was knitting in front of a friend of mine who had never seen me knit before. At one stage she exclaimed "Marie! You're knitting backwards!" I nearly cracked up with laughter - I was on a purl row! Of course it would have looked strange to her as she was sitting straight across from me. Now that I've completed one project I'm suffering from a severe case of startisis despite already having other projects to finish. I bought three skeins of Circus by ArtFul Yarns on sale from Rosie's Yarn Cellar after reading about the special offer in Shobhana's blog. I fell in love with the buttoned shawl pattern that you'll find on the Yarn Cellar's site, so I bought that too! Thanks Shobhana! Thursday, November 14, 2002
I have so much to do today. My hairdresser, Sally, is coming round tonight to re-do my highlights and cut my hair so I have to tidy the house. But I don't want to spend too long on housework because I want to finish sewing the three skirts that I cut out yesterday. One is from a really nice sueded rayon that I bought in Berkeley. I also finished reknitting the sleeves on my Big Wool cardi and want to sew that up. I am really frightened about making it up though. Sewing with a machine is easy but by hand and with wool! This will be my first completed knitted garment and I really don't want to screw it up. I've sewn the shoulders and they look ok but who knows what will happen with the rest! Still tired from the holiday and illness. Get this - I was so sick that I couldn't knit! I'd brought along the Tagliatelli Wrap from the new Colinette scarves leaflet - it's knitted lengthwise and trimmed with mohair tassels - in my suitcase but only managed a few rows during the entire the trip. Fuming - Someone has been selling Bonne Marie's patterns without her consent. This makes me so mad. Bonne Marie is a wonderful lady with one of the coolest knitting sites on the net. She offers her own amazing patterns free of charge and someone rips her off. As a result she's decided to charge for some of her patterns and I don't blame her. The only upside of this is that we'll be able to get our hands on even more fabulous Chicknits patterns. Monday, November 11, 2002
I'm now back in the UK! This was our fifth visit to San Francisco and definitely the worst. On the first full day of our trip we had food poisoning. It was awful, we had some fast food which I won't name, and an hour later I was very ill. Andy got sick about two hours after that. We thought that we could just get through it but we became so ill that the hotel had to call 911 and we ended up in the ER. Nearly six hours of saline drips and medication later we were able to go back to the hotel. The next day we just stayed in but managed to go out the next day. We went to General Bead first, although I really had to force myself - that's just how ill I was feeling! After that we went to Berkeley and I was able to pop into Stone Mountain and Daughter Fabrics as well as Amoeba Music and Rasputin Music - excellent warehouse-type music & video stores. I'm still really tired so will finish this later! Monday, November 04, 2002
I thought that I'd better post before I head off on my holiday to San Francisco! I've been very busy knitwise though working on the Wendy Raglan cardigan and on a Rowan Big Wool cardigan. I had hoped that the Big Wool cardi would be ready to take with me to SF but the sleeves were too long, I have short arms. Just haven't the time to reknit them before the trip. Anyway after we get back next week I'll still be off work - have the next fortnight off - so will be able to have a couple of finished garments in a couple of days. That's if I can keep away from the fabric, beads and off course yarn that I'll have bought in SF! Among the stores I'll be visiting will be General Bead, Britex Fabrics, Art Fibers, Stone Mountain and Daughter Fabrics and Mendels Art Supplies and Far Out Fabrics. Can't wait! |