Goals for May

Feeling like starting this again.

• Knit something from stash yarn - even if it's just a little thing.
• Begin knitting a new garment.
• Sort through and re-organise stash and ensure it's all catalogued and photographed (I'm so geeky, I love doing this - I feel like it's cheating to put it on the list, tbh)
• Visit the tip to get rid of some stuff.
• Research and plan an activity using the iPods so that I can stop panicking about going to that conference in July and having nothing to say.
• Finish rewrites on the book with good grace.

ETA I started this list in April and didn't publish it, so I am just going with it.  Six goals is quite enough, I think.

Tuesday Ten

Ten excuses for where I've been

1. I've been marking coursework. 17 year 13 essays this year. By my count that is roughly 68,000 words. Woe was me, for a few days there.

2. I've been doing book rewrites. There were quite a lot for the second bit of book. I imagine there will be more soon. But the book is available for pre-order and I love looking at the page.

3. They've put my name second on the cover, where it goes alphabetically, even though I wrote three-quarters of the book. I am hoping this is just a mock up. Vanity, I cry, vanity.

4. I have been rarely going to bed before midnight and therefore wedging in naps.

5. I've been drinking these green monster smoothies every morning. Whoever thought blended spinach before 8am was a good idea? It is, you know, especially when you don't leave it overnight. I drink half as much coffee and need half as much breakfast.

6. I've probably been waking the neighbour up at 7am, using the blender.

7. I've been booking ski holidays for October half term. I'm trying to pay them but nobody will return my call. I don't think this bodes well, but we'll stay hopeful. My one-day chance to pass that ski course is in November so I thought I'd try and wedge some extra practice in beforehand.

8. I've been considering going on a bootcamp. Ten hours of exercise a day? I'll either love it, or spend the whole week sobbing.

9. I'm really struggling for a 9 and 10, I'll be honest, and I'm hoping you didn't notice number 3 wasn't really an excuse. Really, I've just been marking coursework and doing book rewrites. It's been deathly boring.

10. Um. I did go to circuits last night. For the first time in about two months. I hurt a lot. Maybe bootcamp isn't such a good idea.

Tuesday Ten

Ten Things That Are Blue (because I am a bit and this will cheer me up)

1. Yarn. Wagtails Kid Mohair 4-ply. I bought this in New York last May.

2. More yarn. Some Knitwitches cashmere silk laceweight. This is more variegated than it seems in the picture.

3. Blue flowers on a sundress by the blue waters of the Agincourt Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef.

4. Blue sky looking extra blue over Ayers Rock (it's impossible to just do one picture from Australia, there are far too many contenders)

5. Blue coats on my friends Louzle and Paul.

6. Blue light over the pond at school at dusk. Very pretty. 

7. The Blue Lagoon in Iceland. That's blue. It's even in the name.

8. Blue, blue waters off the Isle of Capri. 

9. Down by Durdle Door. Never knew the sea could look so blue in this country - and I grew up on the coast!

10. Oh, um. Yarn. More yarn. It has been a while since we had a picture of some yarn though, hasn't it?

It worked! Looking through old pictures has definitely made me more cheerful. However, it has not assisted me in managing my workload. Sigh.

Weekend FO

Stripey Spring Cardigan

 

Pattern: Compote - a typically brief Rowan pattern
Yarn: Rowan Natural Silk Aran - now discontinued, probably because Rowan found themselves incapable of producing at least one ball without knots in it (sigh)
Needle: 4mm and 4.5mm
Mods: I did the shoulder seams in a three-needle bind off, and I only used three buttons instead of the recommend four because they are so big.



Inspired by all the stripey garments in the last Knitscene, I came home from Saturday knitting group in the middle of March and hauled out this yarn I bought in a sale a few years ago for a stripey garment, and quickly found this pattern to go with it. It was quite a quick knit, all things told. It took me 6 weeks according to Ravelry but the fronts took me about three days in total so that should give you some idea of how quick it can be when you set your mind to it. It's got a lovely drape and it's pretty warm; I love the way the stripes turned out and then finding natural material stripey buttons in Get Knitted was the perfect end to the story.

Now...could the rain please stop so I can actually wear it, please?

Wonderwool haul

In spite of the fact that I have not yet knitted up everything I bought when I went to Wonderwool in 2010*, I merrily toddled off to Wonderwool 2012 yesterday with some lovely ladies from Saturday knitting group. This was the first knitting show I'd been to since my last foray to Wonderwool, thanks to my weird ebb in interest in knitting during 2011, and it was very exciting. I went with two purchases in mind: vintage buttons from Brimstone (no website yet), and enough hemp for a summer top from House of Hemp.

Let's begin with the buttons. The lady at Brimstone, when she saw me poring over her Victorian black glass selection, gave me her entire stash and cleared a space for me to sit on her sofa. I was overwhelmed! I came away with some lovely bits and pieces -



I think my favourite is the top left - so very unusual. The little ladybird buttons are from the Button Lady, and I have not included in my slightly inept collage a set of 9 smaller Victorian black glass buttons; the haul was definitely a good one. Eagle eyed long-timed readers might recognise the black star button as the very same design to the one I bought at Wonderwool last time and used on my Christmas hat. I sadly broke the one on my Christmas hat using it to hit my friend in a lift (long story) and although I glued it back together I fear I may one day have to replace it; now I can, though this is a smaller version of the design. 

I did buy some hemp, too, though not enough for a garment. I should have been a bit better planned as I had intended to buy a 500g skein but they didn't have any in the solid colours and I didn't know how much I would need so I bought a skein of 2-ply and another of 4-ply and intend to do some swatching. 



So, that must be all I bought, right?
Oh dear.

We started, of course, at Knitwitches where I instantly fell in love with some silk the colour of the Mediterranean in the sun, and some cashmere in a deeper blue, but I made myself come away with just this Merino-Angora blend which was in the sale bin, and which Eirwen calls a light chunky but which would be worsted in any other language, I think. I want to knit some kind of bulky cowl with it; I don't have a red scarf.



Sorry about the blurry picture, but the colour is quite true and that's the main thing, right?

Continuing with the red theme, I bought some Merino DK from Knitting By Numbers. They had an enormous range of shades and a great display - most saturated of the colours at the top with paler version in the rows underneath. Naturally I went for the top row but had trouble deciding between my usual bright blue and a very fetching red. In the end I remembered I had some bright blue mohair I bought last year still waiting for its project, so I went with the red. I have ear-marked this for a Flutter Sleeve Cardigan.



Then, on my way to buy some buttons, I saw this winking at me from the edge of a stall. It was quite a splurge but it's OMGSOSPARKLY and I really couldn't leave it behind. The colourway is Deep Water and it reminds me a lot of Lorna's Laces Blueberry Snowcone, which I intended to buy in the Lion & Lamb but the colour's now discontinued in that yarn. And it came with a free pattern. Yes, I am trying hard to justify my splurge. 



Finally, a last-minute purchase of some sock yarn from bluefaced.com. I really liked the subtle sparkle in this yarn but discounted it because, you know, I don't actually knit socks and also the idea of white sock yarn is anathema to me. But then I was peeking at my queue on Ravelry to try and find a good hemp project and I remembered that the Apres Surf hoodie is knitted in sock weight. SOLD.



I also got some very cute stitch markers, some earmarked as gifts.



That is quite a haul. Looking at it is very enjoyable, as is thinking about what I will knit with it. It also inspired me to finish up a project I had OTNs made from stash yarn today: out with the old and in with the new, so to speak. Though if I want to go to Wonderwool next year I had better get a move on with getting this lot knitted up. At least I didn't succumb to the Knitwitches.

* Let's be honest here - having looked back over my haul from last time, I realise I haven't knitted up ANYTHING I bought when I went to Wonderwool in 2010, much to my shame, though I have used the roving for thrums on the first of a pair of mittens.

Weekword: Travel

Welcome to this week's Weekword, and please go and see these lovely blogs to read their take on my pick of word, Travel -

Sally at Sow and Sew
Peggy (welcome back!)
Jen at Timballoo
Emma at the Gift Shed

I'd like to tag Peggy for next week's word because she has been away so long! Hope that's OK, Peggy.

Last year I posted a list of the places I visited throughout the year. There were a lot of places. I like to travel and have no reason not to; Mr Z is very tolerant of my itchy feet, although it did work out that I spent a little over two months of 2011 out of the country which is a lot, by anyone's standards.

This year will be a little different; I intend to spend most of the summer in this country, what with the Olympics and everything (as most people are getting fatigued, I am just getting more excited and inspired by the whole shebang), but I hope to get a fair bit of travel in within the country. And, as it turns out, I have already managed to get about a fair bit.



View Travel, 2012 in a larger map

I do so enjoy it! I like the act of travel and the associated places - airports, train stations, ferries; I even like the long coach journeys of the school trips - nearly 24 hours for skiing, though it was less this year thanks to some amazing coach drivers. I think it's because when I'm travelling, I don't have to worry about being idle, because I am already busy - travelling.

Plus I like to see lots of new things. Some things more than others.

Speaking of travel, I am off to Builth Wells tomorrow for Wonderwool, so I had better close this entry here. I will keep adding to my map as the year passes, so keep checking in if you so desire!

Tuesday Ten

Ten Things I Have Learned Recently

1. The phrase "Hoist with my own petard". It means injuring onself with a device you intended to use to injure others.

2. That students LOVE finding out new facts if they are presented as QR codes, even if the facts are not especially riveting,

3. My calm acceptance of people's resistance to new technology may be something I have developed over time. I wonder if the people saying, "I don't see the point in the Kindle - what's wrong with a real book?" are the descendants of the people saying, "I don't need a modem" or "What's the point of email? I can just write a letter" or "I will never need a mobile phone" in 1998. I don't argue with people when they reject technology these days; sooner or later technology will win them round.

4. My hair really appreciates good shampoo. I really didn't think shampoo made that much difference.

5. Green Monsters may not taste very nice but they do give me lots more energy. May have actually gagged on this morning's version though. Note to self: must be made fresh daily, as the spinach flavour develops when left overnight.

6. My book is available for pre-order. I am extraordinarily proud of myself, even though it's not all done and dusted quite yet.

7. I can knit fast when I want to, and it's aran weight yarn. I am a button band away from finishing a stripey cardigan.

8. Good CPD can be as refreshing as a summer holiday. We had some inspirational inset before the Easter holidays and I feel like I am starting a whole new school year. There aren't enough hours in the day for me to complete all the work I want to. Also I was filled with the urge to shop in the last week of the Easter holidays.

9. Plagiarism is sadly not limited to sixth form students. A year 9 turned in a book review this week - late - that he'd lifted verbatim from a website. He tried to tell me he didn't know what all the words meant as he'd used a thesaurus. I think some kids think they invented the internet (they certainly think they invented Twitter) and that no adult is going to be able to Google search for something in quotes. Derbrains.

10. Steps is every bit as good today in concert as they were in 2000, though I can't quite pull off the same look I rocked back then, even with much more expensive make up at my disposal. (I have got one hip deliberately stuck out here. I'm not deformed/8 months pregnant).

I can still drink a pint of cider like a good 'un though. Some skills, you just never lose.