Nessie countdown

Thursday 1.30pm, I have just finished knitting and have darned in all the ends. I knitted this in the round and did the three needle cast-off on the shoulders. A totally seamless pullover.


4.15pm after picking up child from school and helping her choose a party outfit and getting her ready for a friends birthday party, I managed to finish the neck.

9.30pm life got in the way again, I took child to her party, I went to the supermarket, I had dinner...
I have a pullover. It can wait until next week until I get my steam iron out for a little bit of blocking.
After working on this project during the last few days it is finally time to have a look at Oakworth again. I have reached the armholes on the right front. I feel that reaching the armholes is always a mini milestone.


Friday morning 8.30am, it is raining outside. I can't feel any motivation to go and play golf. I thought I wear Nessie with a shirt and go for the preppie look. It may rain outside put the temperature is ideal for wearing Nessie.


Perry has the right idea: Stay home, have a little wash and a very long nap. Or in my case do a bit of blogging and sit down and knit. Dream of what I could knit next.

The Red Rule

On Sunday I thought what better day than to start a little in between project. I bought this Rowan Magpie yarn at the Liberty sale in January. I bought it to knit myself a pullover to play golf in. On the course that I play on regular has a Red Rule, everybody has to wear something bright red. Only a few shades of red are allowed, I am sure this is one of them. So far I had not come across a nice enough pattern, until last week when I got the new Rowan Classic book. In the book is also a zipped vest (and the model carries a set of golf clubs). I bought a huge quantity of this yarn and I have also found a pattern for a zipped cardigan. Initially I only wanted to start this on Sunday afternoon so I would have some knitting to take with me, but then I got carried away. Oakworth can wait a few days.
I plan to play golf on Friday, we will see if I can wear my new pullover by then.

A little bit of knitting

The socks are done. They will look great with my black golf shoes and they will keep my feet warm. They are almost identical only at the very end did the stripes not match up.

Oakworth continues to grow. I did not get that much knitting done this week. Over at Woollywarbler I saw Tracy do her sleeves in the round, she has finished the most wonderful sweater this week. Her sweater called Poetry looks amazing and great on her.
I have ordered and received small circular needles to do the sleeves in the round. I have managed to sew or weave in most ends so far but there will be a lot of finishing to do on this cardigan.
I just got the new Rowan Classic Weekend book, it uses the latest Aran yarn. Last year I got a lot of Rowan Magpie, there are a few things I want to get started on.

Bliss

Yesterday morning I got an e-mail that Debbie Bliss was going to be in John Lewis Oxford Street most of the day. Since I was already going into town I just left my house a bit earlier and went to see Debbie.
I rushed into the yarn department without looking at anything else, in the yarn department some assistants had no clue that Debbie was in the store. One guy then kindly pointed her out to me. Debbie was on the other side cut off from the yarn department.
I had a nice chat with her and touched all the garments and yarn. Her new yarns are lovely.
I have not done much knitting, the sock has now a heel and the cardigan has a left front.
Hopefully I will get more done today.

4ply knitting and other stuff

Here are all my unfinished Objects. By some strange coincidence they are all done in 4ply yarn.
The baby jacket is waiting for the border, but the baby is not born yet. So it will just continue to linger in our livingroom as an UFO.
The socks have not been out much this week and I have reached the crucial point of the heel, something that does need to be knitted in peace at home.
But at home I am busy with the Oakworth cardigan. It is growing, about 10 cm every day, not much but it is growing.
I would not be a knitter if I wasn't already thinking about what to knit next. I see some thicker yarn - some cables. Maybe some Aran knitting is next. But Noor needs a new cardigan for ballet - more 4ply knitting?

PS: I have also finished my Finished Objects blog, see the link on the left hand site. There is only one or two photos that have to be taken and added.

I have been tagged

Idiosyncrasies: A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

Write down five of your own personal idiosyncrasies. Then, if you wish, tag five people from your list to do the same.

That was the order that I got from Ali way back in July while I was in Tulsa. I just ignored it then. I have been thinking about this and so here it goes:

1. I feel I cannot function properly until I had breakfast. But I also have difficulty in eating breakfast. I can only stomach a few things like cereal or porridge.

2. I like to be early for appointments. I rather get there way to early and hang around nearby. Somehow this does not seem to work well with a small child.

3. When I am home in the evenings I will start to knit at 8pm, that is when the day has come to an end, the kitchen has been cleaned up etc and Noor is getting ready for bed.

4. I am Swiss. What more can I say? I like things to start and end at the time stated. Noor's school seem to be unable to do just that. I rarely travel by bus, because here in London they seem to be unaware of a "Timetable".

5. I don't use an alarm clock. My internal Swiss Watch wakes me up!

Look what I found

Your Birthdate: October 31

Your birthday suggests that you are a good organizer and manager, an energetic and dependable worker; attributes often showing success in the business world. Serious and sincere, you have the patience and determination necessary to accomplish a great deal. Your approach can be original, but often rigid and stubborn. Sensitivity may be present, but feeling are likely to be repressed. You are good with detail and insist on accuracy, but at times scatter energies. You're a practical thinker, but not without imagination. You love travel and don't like to live alone. You should probably marry early, for responsibility is necessary for your stability.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

This is so accurate it is scary! But I am a stay at home Mummy, maybe I will have business success later in life. I really do love my travelling.

Mulled Wine

Oakworth has a finished back. The colours seem to look bolder in the photo. Looking at it while knitting I did not think that the colours were standing out so much, I was actually getting worried. All that work and nobody would be able to see the colours: Mulled Wine, Barley, Brilliant and Cheerful.
Now I can start on the fronts. Knitting cardigans always seems to go faster than knitting a sweater.
I also have not yet figured out why some of the colour dots seem to disapear and other not. Did I pull the yarn at the back to hard?

Oh, Jenny!

Jenny has finally reached completion. On Thursday I went to Liberty's and bought the buttons. They are from the Rowan button collection. In Liberty's they did not have any matching ribbon. The ribbon shop has traditional opening hours and I only got to Liberty's after 6 pm. So the ribbon shop visit has to wait for another day.
But on Saturday I went to Walthamstow Market and I actually remembered to take some of the yarn with me, I could not believe that I actually found ribbon in the exact shade and the type and width that I wanted, all for only 30 pence for 2 meters of ribbon.


The knitting was very fast but the finishing has taken forever. I don't think it has ever taken me this long to do the last finishing touches to a garment.
Another bit of my stash has now been reduced.


Voila, ready to wear. I am very happy with the result, shame that summer is almost finished. Hopefully I can wear for another month and then Jenny will have to wait for Summer 2006.

Nifty little helpers

Just some of the little helpers that can make knitting a little bit easier. I bought these big pins about a yarn ago at Seaport yarn in New York City. At first I did not use them that much, but after I have been to the Rowan Finishing course there is no stopping with these pins. They come in handy for all sorts of jobs.


Like for sewing on sleeves. I mark the center of the sleeve and then attach it to the shoulder seam. Afterwards I put the armholes to the sleeve armhole, to divide the reminder of the sleeve is easy.
I have finished knitting both sleeves for the baby jacket and I have blocked it a little bit.
Almost coming to an end with this project it was time to start something new. The button border for this jacket will have to wait until the baby is born. Then we may even go shopping for something blue or pink to match the jacket. I am sure it will look great with both colours.

Meet Oakworth designed by Sarah Dallas. I bought the yarn in July from the Liberty Sale, I bought 12 balls of Yorkshire Tweed 4ply on sale and then bought 5 balls with different colours not on sale but with a 10% discount. The pattern is from the Yorkshire Fable book. The picture in the book is a bit obscured by the steam from the train.
I really want to try and knit with more than one colour. Earlier this year I had come across this other little helper while in Switzerland. I knit the Continental way and doing fair ilse can be a bit of a pain. I have to change the yarn around my finger with every new colour.


There are little dots of green in every fourth row. Knitting with this little thing has made it a lot easier. Not easy is the fact that the colour is added in every fourth row, that means there are a lot of ends to sew in. I have told myself that I will have to do just that after about every 10cm of knitting.
I am still knitting on the socks, they have become my travelling companions, not that I have travelled anywhere in the last few days.
It feels good to be back home, I have had a look at all my stash and I can think about all the projects that I want to knit. I may start with some Christmas Knitting soon!
I did also finish the Fishtail Scarf for my Mum, she loves the Alpaca, the colour the scarf... but I forgot to take a picture of the finished project.

Carry on Knitting

The scarf for Noor in Koigu KPPPM is finished. I knitted the matching mittens in January in my pre blog days. This set took two skeins of yarn. I got the scarf pattern free with the yarn purchase from the Knitting and Stitching show. (The show will be on again in about 6 weeks time.)


The baby jacket is also growing. I did not take the whole cone of yarn with me, instead I wound a ball of about 200gr, and then I ran out of yarn just before I could finish the hood. I even managed to sew the sides and all the loose ends. All that is left to do now is, the sleeves, hood and borders. I will wait with the button borders until the baby is born. Usually if I take my pick whether to do a boy or girl border I get it wrong. Better wait this time around.
What could I do after I ran out of yarn on this project? Go shopping!

Some sock yarn and yet another set of needles. I choose this red Regia, it is called Canadian Colour. This time I am trying a different heel, the boomerang heel.
A friend from Switzerland is staying with us, while we flew here she drove here and arrived a few hours after us, OK she left the day before and stayed the night in Belgium. I love the way car number plates display the country and canton flag. Out friend is from the Canton of Zurich. If you look very closely you can see Perry sitting underneath her car.
The cotton cardigan for me is still waiting for buttons and a ribbon. After the weather forecast for Switzerland was so bad I did not take it with me. Instead I am planning a trip to London and a visit to Libertys or John Lewis for buttons and to vvrouleaux.
Next week Noor will be back in school and I will have the freedom to do trips around London and look at yarn at my leisure.

Finally back home

We all love to travel but getting back home is also nice. The word travel comes from an old word meaning work/ labour. Travel can still be hard work. packing and unpacking, pulling suitcases around, keeping an eye on child etc. Of course it is a lot easier than it was even a houndred years ago.


Noor standing in Lucerne on the busiest road. It was actually nice to have no cars in this part of town. Also near my Mums it got a lot quieter than usual. On the other hand we did not use our rental car at all. Just left it parked. Getting to certain places in town was a real excersise, walking up and down hills where we usually just walk along the water. But I found the water to cold to walk through for a long time and my Mum just refused.At least it was crystal clear lake water, until it had been there for a few days. The city was very efficient and built wooden walk ways on a lot of places. Then as soon as the water went down they removed them again.
There are still places in Switzerland that are cut off from the rest. It will take a few weeks until a wooden bridge has been built and then hopefully they can start work on the road before winter starts.

People walking along on the wooden walkways.
Switzerland has been very lucky that not more people died and also that buildings and roads can be rebuilt. A lot of people lost everything. People are helping each other and there have been only a very few incidents of looting. New Orleans has suffered much more and I believe it will take a long time to recover.