New Stash!

I've been a bit naughty this week. We had to go to the Childrens' Hospital in B'ham yesterday. DD is half way through her 6 weeks in plaster & everything is how it should be :)

I had to check if the Rackhams sale had started...it had! I got his little lot:

Jaeger Aqua for just £1.00 per ball. I'm hoping to make strawberry smoothie from an old Simply Knitting magazine with the rose colour & the red one, I don't know yet. The books were just £2.00 each. I like a couple of designs in each so they were well worth getting. The sock wool is Regia Stretch at only £2.00/50g, I like bright sockies!

This is the Rowan Handknit cotton off Ebay. I was disappointed with the shade when it came & put it back in the bag in disgust. I've looked at it again today to photograph & it's growing on me. If I leave it a bit longer I might learn to love it & actually knit it up. It's shade 255 & is called scarlet:

There has been progress on the Zhivago Ribby Cardi. Here it is as of today:

Good job it's stretchy look how narrow it is! I've sewn in all the ends that I can for now. Just the collar to knit. It's made separately & sewn on. I've then got to find a zip to match, so that should be fun. I've decided, after trying it on, that it won't look right worn open due to the stretchiness, so the zip will be sewn in unstretched. Let's hope it works ok! I can't wait to get this one finished, so many things are yelling me to knit!!

One Heck of a De-Stash & Zippage Dilemma!

I've been ebaying like crazy for the last few weeks. I've had a quick count up & I've actually sold 15KG of yarn just in May/June. What's quite scary is that most of it wasn't stuff I'd logged previously on Craft-memo, so that means I've still got LOADS! I'd forgotten about most of it too. Fluffy yarn is officially DEAD. I've listed loads of it at a loss just to get rid. Why did I buy so much of it 2 years ago? No, I don't know either! I've even sold some Lorna's Laces sock wool on the forum as it was never likely to be knitted & I've still got 6 skeins I can drool over, I'll probably never knit them, they should be hung on the wall...hmmm I wonder if DH would agree that it's 'art' LOL! They look nicer in the skein, than on my feet, I think!!!!!!!!

I won some Rowan handknit cotton on ebay today, as the price went up, I was willing someone to outbid me & they didn't, so I hope it's a nice colour when it arrives. I'm hoping to make this jacket in it. I managed to go over 2 weeks without buying yarn :)

I've finished the back & 2 sleeves on the Zhivago ribby cardi. I've cast on both front pieces & am knitting a bit on each one, crazy idea, but it feels like they're growing quicker that way, my logic is a bit weird to say the least! I'm having a 'zippage' dilemma over this now. After reading on Grumperina's blog about zips, it's got me thinking...do I stretch it then add the zip or do I add it as it is.

I see problems with both:

If I fit it stretched -When I wear it open, will it 'bounce' up & pucker the zip??

If I fit it unstretched - When I wear it closed, will it pucker the zip??

What do you guys all think? I can see this getting buttons LOL!

I'm a bad blogger today & don't have any pics for you, I'll fix that for the next post!

Knitterly Update

Progress on the Ribby cardi is painfully slow. Here's me thinking I'll get loads done at the hospital...not a chance. I managed about 4" of one sleeve. 2 people saw me too, I was so embarrassed, as I've never knitted in public before. I'm struggling to pick it up each day, as cotton yarns & summer patterns are calling me & it's been too warm to knit this! Please give me a 'virtual' kick up the backside to get me going again! Here it as of today:

Some knitterly goodies arrived last week that I just have to share!!!

This is the Turchese Cotton from German ebay. I've been searching for 'Cadbury's purple' cotton & I've now got some. This stuff is so nice, I don't want to knit it, how stupid is that? It was delivered in these little boxes:

I'm hoping to get some of it knitted into these:

I've done my usual crazy trick & bought a ridiculous amount of the same yarn in different colours, just look at the state of this Patons Zhivago mountain from Kemps!!

I'm now the proud owner of the Zhivago pattern book from Oz. These are some of the beauties I love, I could happily knit them all, but surprisingly, I don't have enough of the wool!

and these 2...

Just 2 more...

I would've had some of the pink print Zhivago too, but those naughty ebay sellers beat me to it!

That's the lot, I've been really good & not ordered any yarn for, ooohhhh it must be about 9 days now LOL!

Hospital visit all over

My dd has been such a brave little girl. We're very proud of her. We knew it was going to be difficult when she screamed at the nurse who tried to put a name-band on her! Every step was such a battle, I asked the nurses to tell her they were going to do something, rather than ask her, as her obvious answer was always going to be "NO I'M NOT HAVING IT". She was in theatre/recovery for 2.5hrs when they'd told us 1.5hrs, that's when horrible thoughts play on your mind, during that last hour or so. She took ages to recover form the op & was really woozy all Wednesday evening & Thursday morning. She came out on Friday morning, a day earlier than expected :) She's doing great & hasn't yet asked for the plaster to be taken off!!! Her she is. enjoying her Wotsits!



Birmingham Childrens Hospital is a great hospital, I wouldn't wish for her to be in anyone elses care, her consultant is the top man for child orthopeadics.


I had a few stark reminders of how precious my childrens' lives are whilst we were there... I overheard an anaesthetist telling a mother the reason for delaying her sons minor op was because a child was having life-saving surgery. Another mother, concerned about the safety of anaesthetising such a small child (age 2) was told they had just sent a 750g baby down for surgery - I weigh wool in grammes, not babies. And finally, the most saddening sight of all, for me, was the plain black transit van sitting outside the main entrance waiting for it's 'passenger', discreetly marked with the funeral directors' logo. Why can't they use the back entrance for those 'collections' I wonder ???

This Weeks Knitterly Stuff!

At long last I have the photo's of the completed cotton bolero. I really don't like the feel of Sirdar Pure cotton, it's too rough, maybe it will soften after a wash?

It's quite hard to get an even tension, or maybe it's my crap knitting, I don't know!

I found some nice looking cotton from an ebayer in Germany. I asked what tension it knits too & as he didn't know he sent me a ball for free. So I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to my first EVER tension square (yes really!) I guess I've been very lucky up to now as I've never bothered with them!

I didn't have the heart to tell him that the details are on the ball-band! It states 20s/24r on 4.5mm, but it feels a bit thin so I tried 4mm & got 22s/26r, that will do for me!! At 1.00 euro per 50g (his best price), my order is in, it's working out to £1.00 per ball delivered.

Right, onto the current knit... my quest for teal yarn has ended (temporarily!). Good old Kemps have Patons Zhivago, ridiculously priced at only 69p a ball, with a recommended price of £3.50 per 50g! I'm knitting a ribbed zippy jacket from the Patons Weekend Knits book. I started this on Friday with the help of the lovely Seahorse, as I'm still awaiting delivery of the book.

I've switched to metal pins as progress was too slow with the Brittany's! Plus, I hate the way the last knit st on a rib section, is a bit baggy on the rs, so to rectify that, I'm purling the first purl stitch in each group by wrapping the yarn anti-clockwise (ie under the needle) on the rs rows & tbl on the ws rows. Making sense, so far? This tightens the knit stitch, slow, but worth the extra effort me thinks!

This knit will take a while, but I'll have some extra knitterly time this week as DD is going into hospital for her BIG hip operation on Wednesday & they think she'll be in for 3 nights. So I'll be the midnight-clicker on the ward!

I love this yarn so much, that I've gone back to get more & am now coveting this book for it, if I can find it in Oz with more sensible postage!!!

ETA- Update, have now found the book on ebay.com/au Patons Zhivago Spring/Summer knits

Pictures available here