FO: Mum's socks

FO: Cora's Bobble Hat

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran
Amount: 2 balls with some leftover
Needles: 6mm addi turbos and Knitpicks harmony options with 60cm cords on each, going round and round and round and round and round

The brief was for a hat to fit a 52 cm head. Mine is 56cm and the hat is snug but not overstretched so I think it will be fine. I tend to like knitting that is not too open but this yarn has a lot of bounce and stretch which makes it good for hats. I used a lot of yarn for the pompom and it feels a little heavy but then it is a long time since I have worn a bobble hat.

I need to go to the post office now.

I am the queen of the computer!

There have been a few milestones in my life lately, and important events when moving house. Gettint on the internet and having the phone connected were both important events. Making the house warm and trying out the washing machine were less exciting but nonetheless things I couldn't do without.

In my previous flat, the other tenant (oh yeah, we happened to be married) set up the computer with all sorts of gizmos and had an extra monitor. The laptop is teeny tiny so using the laptop screen was a strain on the eyes and the keyboard is slightly smaller than a normal one. Since getting a big tv, I've been meaning to recreate this and connect the laptop and external harddrive to the tv so I can surf and watch Smallville on the big screen. This evening, I have succeeded!

All bits talking to each now includes: tv, laptop, modem, external hard drive, wireless thingy, usb port thingy, wireless keyboard, speakers that look like they belong on a spaceship, printer (haven't tested it yet) and gamecube all to my 26 inch tv. The connecting up only took about an hour as fortunately the previous custodian had labelled most of the power plugs and the usb connectors. The thing that took the next two hours was making it output to my tv. I spent about an hour downloading the tv manual (which was useless) to check resolution specs having been googling and reading forums. At first there was no signal to the tv apart from when the laptop started up or shutdown. I think this was solved by changing the resolution. Then I could only see the desktop background and it was sideways. After another hour, the desktop background was still there but in the correct orientation. I then gave in and phoned my dad who didn't know the answer immediately but said enough things to make me feel like trying again.

So here is what I learned:

1) I am connecting my Acer laptop to my LCD tv with a VGA cable (VGA both ends). This has screwing in bits.
2) I went to control panel, display, settings, to discover that the laptop was still setup to have multiple monitors and recognised the tv. I don't know how to set it up from scratch so don't ask.
3) I went to control panel, Intel R Graphics Controller to change the orientation of the picture on the tv.
4) I set the refresh rate to 60HZ and the resolution to 1024 by 768.
5) The final amazing step was to right click the desktop, graphics options, output to, monitor (which I know is my tv). Eureka!

Ok, so not knitting related but may be of interest to you.

Back to knitting content next post as the red hat is just waiting for a bobble.

Red hat attempt number 3

So here is a hat I have been working on for at least a week. Yes you are right, it is a mass of wool and two sets of needles and 74 cast on stitches. There is no knitting. That is not to say I haven't knitted - I have made this hat three inches long twice, once with 104 sts and once with 88. Both times it was far too massive for a 4 year old and I was in danger of ending up with half a hat and no more yarn. So I ripped it again.

It is interesting how my brain has been struggling to function over the last few weeks. When I sat down to knit this hat, I thought I had very few options on what to knit it with. Fortunately, this third start has reminded me that I have OPTIONS. I bought them at Ally Pally from Jeni and told you about them here. So a couple of doh! moments were worth it so I don't have to magic loop.

Details: Debbi Bliss Rialto, 5mm needles, 52cm head, cast on 74 sts and rib for a while and see what happens.

Edited to note: The damn knitpicks needle is longer than the addi turbo. Curses. Now will have to either battle around magic loop or two circs at once when all I really want are dpns.
Edited to note #2:Sweet Lord, the separation seems to have addled my brain more than I thought. 6mm needles, 6mm needles. Glad I checked. Anyone want to take bets that this one ends up too small?

*goes to have a quick drink and a lie down in a cool dark room*

Since passing my driving test, I've moved house and had another pattern published and seen a solicitor and finished my mum's socks and cast on some socks for me and am in the process of becoming an auntie for the fifth time and am living alone for the first time in years but am plodding along and know it will all come good eventually. Perhaps life is like a red hat?