Halloween stitch markers

The clocks went back last night and I was interested to see the my tv, phone and laptop could sort themselves out but I have to interact with my alarm clock, 3ds and oven. Since I bought ringOs in the summer, I've been looking forward to the halloween seasonal special sets.

I've started crocheting amigurumi and knitting stitch markers aren't useful at all so I bought some split rings too. They are not the main event.

Three sets of ringOs!  I only bought one tin which comfortably fits 30 standard size markers.

Jack O Lantern are black and orange and orange and black.

Wicked Witch are black and green and green and black. Both of these were available last year so I was planning to combine them with the Vampire's Kiss red and black set I already have.  However, a third set was created:

Poison which are purple rings with black and green beads.

I'm not just buying things, I'm also knitting.  I'm up to 110 out of 150 on my dad's xmas present so I'm well on the way to finishing before December.  I'm also correcting several pairs of socks which are painful to wear.

Paralympics and Christmas knitting

Back when everyone else was still fighting over Olympic tickets, I went straight for Paralympic tickets and ending up with three days full of paralympic greatness. I'm going again tomorrow, but here are some pictures from the park venues from Wednesday.

When I booked the tickets, there was almost no interest in the paralympics but I thought more people would want to join in once they'd been unable to get olympic tickets.  I didn't expect it to be the first paralympics to be sold out though.  I think Channel 4 have done a great job of promoting it even if the coverage hasn't felt as comprehensive as for the olympics.

Having seen the stadium so many times on tv, being there in person felt amazing.  After about an hour of cheering, I was already hoarse.  A few more hours trotting around, including spiralling down the orbit, and I felt like you needed to be an olympian to survive a day at the paralympics.  

My legs are still sore but whining about sore legs is probably a faux pas when surrounded by super athletes.

I'm making great progress on my dad's xmas present.  It's Tiger's Head Illusion by Steve Plummer.

At this early stage, about 40 rows (20 ridges) in, I can't really see the pattern yet, especially as my needle is too short for it to lie flat.  There's a fluffy bit in the acrylic which may need removing at the end.  I had to buy two 100g balls each of brown and cream but I expect to use about 150g of each colour.

I was supposed to finish an existing project before starting a new one, but I keep wanting to use my stitch markers and choosing projects accordingly.  This project has 150 main stitches with three edge stitches making a total of 156. I've marked each edge, with dusky sunset ringOs, every odd 10 sts with simple solid oval markers, every even 10 sts with breakfast at tiffany's ringOs, with the 70th and 100th st marked by and XL ringO.  See, I did need all sorts of millions of ringOs after all.

Buy British

With the news that Britain is in a worse recession than the experts expected, I continue my one knitter quest to boost the economy.

Exhibit one: Big sporting event themed stitch markers from Fripperies and bibelots. Shhh, don't say olympic or we all might get arrested.

Exhibit Two: Vampire's Kiss stitch markers. 

 I felt a bit bad yesterday morning when I was waiting for the stitch markers to arrive.  I am using about 30 at the moment, of the 50 I bought before, so that brings the total to 70, and then I ordered a club set that will be sent out next week.  When they arrived though, I didn't feel bad anymore.  They are pretty and they live up to the claim of snag free and they make me happy.  I have decided not to buy anymore for a while though, as each time I see a set I like, I will end up buying four or five as I have very little self control.  I'd rather have one in every colour or not at all than just one.

Exhibit Three: Sirene, BFL and Wensleydale 600m per 100g, from The Natural Dye Studio

This is lovely, less orange than I expected but still a lovely peachy colour.  It does have a sheepy smell but it's not as strong as another hank I have, which as I type, I realise I haven't blogged. So that could be another exhibit but I'll leave it for now.

Exhibit Four: Spyder Silk, 420m per 100g

I bought this in case my aunt is too allergic to wool to wear her Percy#3, in which case I'll keep it and knit her something in purple silk.  Unless she also doesn't like pale purple, in which case I'll keep everything.

Exhibit Five: Sparkle Sock, 600m per 150g in Midnight Purple from Fyberspates

This is for a Rock Island for my mum and it's so beautiful I have already wound it and am itching to start.  I'm going to keep to my new rule of not starting a something until another is finished so either that will be Echo Flowers or Simplicity cardigan.  I'm alternating between the two as a whim takes me and making use of my stitch markers on both.

I just put the heating on...

...it's only been on for 10 minutes but now I'm feeling much more snug.  I put it on to encourage my washing to dry.  It's been raining all day and I'm beginning to develop trenchfoot to supplement my winter blues.  Happy July, everybody.

My hours at work have been cut slightly from this week (poor weather = poor sales) and I'm determined to make the most of it.  I walked to work, even though it was raining (although I hadn't realised it was raining as it was invisible sideways drizzle) but drove back after lunch.  I developed a raging bad mood due so wasn't disappointed to have to leave early.  What better remedy than boiling up milk for a restorative hot chocolate and settling down for Japanese homework.  If I can manage half an hour each day and half an hour of stupid boxing and dancing with the wii I'm sure I'll start feeling more cheerful.

Some pretty things that make me happy arrived last week from Fripperies & Bibelots.  My only complaint about the company is there are far too many wonderful colours to choose from.  Whittling it down to five sets (wimbledon, breakfast at tiffanys, dusky sunset, rock chick, scaly simple solid rings) was a feat of great restraint but now there's an olympic set and I'd like vampire's kiss and not to mention there's a limited edition club set being released on Sunday night.   Now that I have so many stitch markers, I really should put some to use but I made myself finish a project before starting a new one.  It was supposed to be the simplicity cardigan but evidently if a cardigan has already taken a year, it's not going to knit itself.  After a brilliant wedding on Saturday (more about that another post) I finished a sock yesterday. Hangover plus channel 5 films all afternoon makes perfect simple sock knitting time. So, this evening, having done all the smug things mentioned earlier, I wound my steeplechase green silk and am ready to embark on Echo Flower Shawl. Bon voyage.

Breakfast show thankyou

I woke up this morning to my radio playing Never Forget. I thought, crikey, did Gary Barlow die? Chris Moyles wouldn't play it without a good reason.  The next song wasn't a Take That anthem though, so I realised it wasn't a memorial marathon but the chatter afterwards definitely confirmed something was up.  The news at 8.30 reiterated what I had missed - Chris Moyles was leaving the breakfast show in September, we were being forwarned of the end of an era. Here's how I felt.

Finding out that over 8 years of waking up to the same voice was coming to an end was quite a shock and I guess people in the studio felt that way too as the team seemed rather stunned and subdued.  They kept playing songs, which is very odd behaviour. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but Chris Moyles has seen me though changing jobs, moving house, changing jobs and moving house again.  When I was struggling to get out of bed in the morning in a post divorce funk, he was struggling to ascend Mount Kilimanjaro.  And I thought to myself, well, getting out of bed is hardly a mountain, is it? He, along with his team and listeners, has raised millions for charity but I wonder if he realises how much influence his show has had on people personally.  Perhaps he will after all the tweets and messages have had their chance to reach him today.

I was surprised how upset I felt this morning, even though I tried to be sensible.  He wasn't dead, simply moving on, making a change, and with all the milestones we've passed together, perhaps a new morning show DJ would signal a new phase of my life, even if I am not target audience anymore.  Think of the under 30's, people! I tried to cheer myself up by shortlisting who would be acceptable to me as a replacement: Zane Lowe, Mista Jam, Dev and Grimmy were the ones I could come up with but didn't expect any of them to be chosen.  While hell for me is a GP's waiting room with Radio 2 playing, I would consider switching to Classic FM or 6 Music if pushed. Well, at 10.30, it was announced Grimmy is the successor.  I cheered up immensely and felt ever so slightly youth. Radio 2 can suck it.

In knitting news, I have finished Percy#3 and it is now blocking. I've become a laceweight convert.  You get so much bang for your buck, knitting is slower but the finished product is sooooo beautiful, and you gain mucho bragging rights when you show of hundreds of metres of patterned loveliness.

With that in mind, a little while ago, I signed up to a lace club. I'm not normally one for surprises, and had never committed to a club before, but I had a funny five minutes at work one day and signed up to two. The first instalement of the first club arrived a few days ago. I was not disappointed.

The Yarnyard Steeplechase Club Instalment 1: complete with lovely letter, stitchmarkers and a yarnbra.

The yarn is 1000m of silk, dyed in three layers of colour and it is beautiful. I don't know if I'm lucky or not as I bought a similar colour from Nimu in a silk blend also during the very extended funny five minutes of stash enhancement at work. I've never joined a surprise club before as I've been convinced I wouldn't like the colour, but in this case, I definitely do.

Stitchmarkers by fripperies and bibelots:

Great name for a company and great product. I've slaved through three Percys now using scraps of yarn as stitch markers and on the #3 little wisps of colour were graffiting the lacework. I used to have many pretty stitch markers but stopped using them when I found they snagged on the yarn. Ornamental, rather than useful and so, not fit for purpose. Well, now I've been introduced to these snag free markers and I am a born again addict. So, finding the yarnyard had no more stitch markers, I google fued and visited the etsy shop. Money spending followed...