More snow snow snow snow (and no knitting)

These are my two youngest boys Zakk and Max having fun in the back garden in the snow. These were taken last week whilst off school because of the weather. They were hoping for more snow last night so they could rebuild the snowmen who have sinced thawed a far bit.
They have also became very adept at snowball throwing and sneaking up and putting snow down your back, apparently hats cover up up the eyes in the back of your head so you don't see them approaching, either that or the fact that the hat is over your ears means you don't hear them. Needless to say the little fountains of joy find it very hilarious when you jump into the air at the shock of cold snow on your back and falling down the back of your jeans. Fathers and their bright ideas also deserve the same treatment I might add and after a lot of patience, determination and downright tenacity on their part revenge is indeed a dish best served cold when daddy is included in the fun.

There was me promising no knitting when it suddenly hit me (no not with another snowball) that of course the boys hats are both hand knitted. They are from that huge mountain of knitting before christmas that I never got to blog/brag about. Zakks is just charcoal grey aran wool/acrylic mix in a 3x3 rib. Max's is knit with a ball of regia sock wool doubled up so knitted with two strands an a mock rib pattern. It could have done with a few extra rows (it was meant for Zakk originally but wasn't quite big enough) but they were both in bed when I knitted it and so the length was guesswork. He has had plenty of wear out of it though so even if he only gets this winter out of it I'll be happy.

Snow snow snow snow snow snow

This what my back garden looks like in the Siberian conditions we are having in the UK at the moment. This is the first sprinkle that came this morning. Apparently in the Midlands we are to get a proper dusting sometime this afternoon/teatime. I have plenty of food in, plenty of stash (as you can see from my previous posting) and it's great playing outside with the kids in it. They were a little gutted they had to go to school today, although I have just had a txt to tell me a friend of mine has just pulled her kids out of school so they can go home and make a snowman! Noooo I'm not doing that, there will be plenty of time when they get home and hopefully B/ham city council will have a blanket closure tomorrow of all schools tomorrow if the big flurry does arrive later.

Also a plus is I got to wear the hat I knitted myself a few weeks ago when I had to run some errands this morning. i knitted I for myself after walking the neighbours dog the other week and my head and ears got cold. When I showed hubby and tried it on he was not very complimentary on how I looked in it so I'd put it in the hat/glove basket a little disappointed but it was so cold this morning I thought stuff it and wore it anyway. No one openly started pointing at me in the street shouting HA HA, mainly because it was coming down quite thick at the time and every ones heads were down trying to avoid being blinded by snowflakes. The pattern is An Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2007/11/06/an_unoriginal_hat.html

and is just how she describes it, easy and quick. Quicker for me as I think the tension for my yarn was slightly out, I decreased slightly earlier and so did a few less rows overall as it would have come down past my nose. I used Sirdar Denim Ultra and it took pretty much one ball exactly. The colour is waterlily.

Hello, my name is Nicky and I am a........

Yarn addict. It's true, for the first time today I have photographed all of my stash sort of together, well in sets, I had to get it out in turn, photograph it and put it back away before the next lot came out (there is no way it would all fit in one picture, well not unless I lay it all outside and its far too wet ,cold and muddy. I'm an addict not a lunatic for crying out loud, there is a difference or at least I'm desperately hoping that there is.
Now this is something I am sharing with you in confidence, Mr Knitternicky knows that I have a fair amount of yarn, he isn't stupid (as much as I would like him to be on occasion, mainly stash enhancing occasions) but he hasn't saw it all in it's glory??????? in fact like I said I hadn't until an hour or so ago. I do have one fail safe however, hubby is techno illiterate, he is one of those unusual beings who has very little interest in the worldwide web and even less knowledge of how access it, so hopefully unless someone he knows stumbles across this, puts two and two together that it's me his very good lady wife, prints off pics or drags him in front of a pc screen I should be safe. A girl has to have a little mystery from her man........
Now I know my not too little stash pales into comparison with some others I have seen in magazines and on the web but when I have gotten over the sick and shamefull feeling in the pit of my gut I'm sure (hopefully) I will have a little pride in what I have managed to accumulate but being faced with it all I suppose I really ought to stop buying, the only problem I have is that in my LYS the other day they finally had in the Sirdar Tweedie and the organic wool that I have been reading about, and I promised I would be back for some soon, I think I'd better learn to hold two sets of needles in one hand
Now if this blog publishes it the way I'm hoping it will ( this is why I dont blog very often I'm useless with technology and my knowledge although a lot more than hubby's is still dismally poor!) the top pic is my under bed stash (in the big underbed storage bags obviously) and my oldest stuff, a lot of it coming before I learnt the hard lessons of Ebay and impulse bidding etc (ok so I never really learnt them as such).
Most of the second pic of the full bags of yarn (mostly) is my first hard lesson learned of online wool shopping and inability to resist bargain online wool stores, this lots was from http://www.kempswoolshop.co.uk/ ,there were a few other lots in there that have been knitted up but the whole lot was a bargain at around £60. Some of it was paid for by christmas present money though.
The third piture is a lot of bits and bobs, but a fair bit came from an instore splurge in John Lewis last summer. It was the end of their sale and a lot of it 75%off, with an absolute bargain of Rowan summer tweed in lilac for 50p a hank. It had been labelled wrong shade wise hence the price, I nearly fell over when I picked it up and saw the price... I was prepared to kick the counter very hard if they wouldn't honor the price.

Fourth pic is some bits and bobs, most likely from ebay where I'm still not learning lessons!!!!

Fifth picture is what is kept in my sons overbed cupboard, in my defense it is all intended to be used for the boys and will end up back in there once knitted!
Sixth picture is what I have bought so far this year, the fo's included so proof that I do actually knit the with stuff I buy!! HONEST GUV!!
It isn't as bad as it looks, honestly, no really at least four balls of that was bought to knit for my neices birthday and some of it was bought with vouchers that I had for Christmas to go shopping in the sales. OK OK OK hands up isn't include the 22 or so balls I'm waiting to be delivered from Rowan that I bought in the online John Lewis sale........ now if they turn up when hubby is home that is going to a blog post on its own GULP
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Keeping Warm

Due to the cold snap I have been distracted from my Christmas pressie making by my daughters request for a new hat and scarf to go with her new coat. She wanted something cable and sparkly was the request received, luckily I had some Sirdar Romance in my stash, a lovely Arctic bluey grey colour with a silver thread running through it, very pretty. This was also a bonus as it is aran weight so there would be a wealth of cable patterns suitable (although she didn't want anything too fussy????)and hopefully they would knit up quite quickly. I just need to add that this yarn is discontinued but you can still get it on ebay occasionally.



After wading through loads I finally found some "acceptable" patterns on Ravelry. I finally went with The Irish Hiking Hat and Scarf. They can be found here http://irishhikingknitalong.blogspot.com/2006/11/irish-hiking-hat.htmlg.blogspot.com/2006/11/irish-hiking-hat.html . BTW that link took me ages to work out, I think I must go the long way round.

I started the hat first and although I used the pattern in the link I made some changes, I did 2
x2 rib around the bottom not garter stitch, I also used my own decreasing, I tried to keep the cable at the same width for as long as possible as that is where my eye is naturally drawn to when looking at these. I managed to knit it in a night although I was up til 2.30am doing it!! So please pardon the big bags under my eyes if you can spy them in the pic.

I finished it at 2.30am and she was wearing it to work by 7.30am. I don't think Leigh-Ann has ever heard of blocking a finished item LOL.



The scarf of course took a while longer, but I like it and so does my daughter. It took 3 days in total. I know the colours look completely different but they are knitted in the same yarn and the colour in the pic of the scarf is much truer than that of the hat.

A Few Not So Recent FO's

Here are a few bits that I've knitted in the last few months but haven't appeared on my blog, mainly because of the school summer holidays and I didn't post anything on here.

This is my Ribbed Lace Bolero by Kelly Maher, I got the pattern from Ravelry, it was a free download. It was a very easy fast knit. I used Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran. I loved the pattern and the yarn.

This is Donovan knitted for Max. The pattern appeared in issue 5 of Let's Knit magazine. It is knitted Patons Washed Haze dk and again the yarn is lovely to knit with, I have plans to make another for Zakk but using the denim blue as the main colour. It is the same yarn as used for Roberts baby present in my last blog entry. It was my first attempt to knit a jumper completely in the round (including the sleeves and as I hate sewing up so much was quite pleased at how it turned out.

This a ballet style cardigan knitted for Sophie, my daughters friend. She came to me with puppy eyes and bottom lip out that she was a deprived child due to the fact that when she was young (she is now 19) at ballet class she was the only girl without a ballet cardigan and to help her recover from all that emotional scarring would I please, please make her one.!!!
The pattern is a sublime one that was in my The Art Of Knitting collection and the yarn is Sirdar Country style, mainly because it was so inexpensive, the colour for all of you pink freaks out there is blush.

I wasn't sure whether to do this as it's very own blog post as I was very very pleased with myself when I finished this but have decided against as the "moment" has now passed and I am well and truly over it!!! But this is my first ever sock, a practice sock as my niece (Paige) has requested a pair for Christmas so I though I'd better make sure that I can knit them before committing myself. It was a very basic pattern called Basic Tubular Socks taken from Knitting Magazine, I think it was issue 043 from Oct 07. I only did a short cuff as it was a practice in turning the heel that so many people seem to get into a nervous state about. The yarn is King Cole ZigZag, a new sock yarn they have bought out which is a bargain at £3.95 for 100grms.

There are some other FO's but they will be in the next post, which judging by the knitting I'm concentrating on will be a Christmas pressie special.

A baby present

My cousin's girlfriend Anne (whom I've yet to meet but we've chatted on the phone and seems lovely so far) had a baby last Friday. I've obviously known about the impending birth for quite a while now but I thought I would wait before knitting anything just in case I could do pink, should have guessed with this family it would be another boy! Never mind boys are lovely, a lot more loving than independent girls who always have to have their own way no matter what, or maybe that's just my daughter!. My three boys have been a little easier I have to say than my daughter, she has always known her own mind unlike the lads who on the whole have been a bit more laid back shall we say although I should add at this point that Max is the exception to every rule ever written. Leigh has never been a problem I hasten to add just a little more stronger willed than the lads and a whole lot more self sufficient.

Anyway, baby Robert was born a week ago today, weighing in at over 9lbs (ouch and that's a first baby). I don't know a lot more than that as they live in another part of the country and so haven't seen him yet. This is what I made for him.

I started knitting it on the Friday night and carried on through the day on Saturday, we had our usual quota of visitors so I just carried on knitting whilst drinking coffee and nattering. The plan was to get it all finished by Sunday night maybe Monday morning so I could get it posted off. However (there always has to be a punchline doesn't there), I went out Saturday night to a friends 40th birthday party. I know Rebecca from playgroup, Rebecca helps to run it with my SIL at the local school (my sons school BTW) and so I was invited to her party with a number of other ladies from playgroup and decided to do it as a girly night out and let out hubbies off the hook from attending. There were also a lot of her colleagues invited including both of my sons teachers. I had no intention of getting drunk before we went, or even as the first glass of wine was being sipped, but the dj to be fair was more than a little naff so I'm blaming him, I don't drink very much usually and even on the very odd occasion when I'm out I'm on the dance floor most of the night so my alcohol consumption is kept to a minimum, but not dancing was lethal for me. I was, lets say quite slaughtered. My SIL doesn't drink and she assured me most of the teachers had gone before I started talking complete b@oll%cks. I don't remember getting home although I remember waking up on the settee where hubby left me snoring!! I vaguely remember getting up and going to bed at that point.

Next morning (the boys were up at 7am on a Sunday) I was rough, very rough. Luckily for me hubby was in a far worse state than me a few weeks ago so had no room whatsoever to lecture me on indulging in excess but did get up with the boys with a huge smirk on his face that just spoke of payback!! A huge lie in til 11am and a shower left me feeling a little more human but I still couldn't face picking up my needles again til teatime. A whole evening and a whole day of non knitting killed the schedule for getting them finished, not helped by the fact that I then spent Mon, Tues and Wed doing some decorating for mum and her partner so by the time I'd been there all day, come home collected the boys from school, done some housework and cooked tea, bathed the boys and tidied up I was shattered. Finally managed to finish them Wed night. Went to my LYS on Thursday morning for buttons ( still cannot believe I had none suitable in my tin!!)and was so busy chatting to the ladies in the shop I didn't check how many buttons she put in my bag, I asked for 5 I'm sure, she gave me 3. So I had another trip there this morning to get another 2. All done and if I don't get to the post office before 5.30pm this afternoon I will go in the morning.

I do hope after all the palaver that Anne like the jacket and that it fits him.

I won a comp

I won a competition, it's not very often I win anything and I do enter things so I'm not moaning that I don't win when I don't put myself up for it because I do. Last time I won a comp was about 15 years or so ago. It was Kerrang magazine back in the days before hi-tech computer assistance etc etc. It was a good old fashioned answer an idiot question, phone up and leave your answer, name and address on an answering machine. So I did this, unfortunately part way through leaving my details (I always have the tv off so no background noise to blame) I farted very loudly and unexpectedly and so had to try very hard not to laugh whilst giving the rest of my details. Anyhow a fortnight later Mr Postman knocks on the door with a jiffy bag and inside I found I'd won the prize of a signed cd by Corrosion Of Conformity and a long sleeved t-shirt which I wore a lot and still have I think although I haven't worn it for years. They must have heard my details, heard the fart and thought " that's the winner"!!!!!!
THIS competition I won this week was a little more dignified I'm happier to say in my ever so slightly more mature (oi watch it) responsible phase in life. It was on Silvi's blog http://slowlaneblog.blogspot.com/ whom I know from the Lets Knit forum. She had a comp where you had to guess which socks from the new Simply Knitting sock calender she most wanted to knit. I felt a little guilty because anyone who has seen Silvi's FO's would know that the stockings win every time, so I ended the comp rather early but as you can see the prize was far too delicious to pass up on. It's Silvi's own handspun and handyed Falklands merino. there's a 100grms of it and it seems like a chunky weight to me. It is very soft and very pretty. I'm still musing what to do with it. Silvi has felted some of her own yarn before and it came out fabulous so thats making it even more difficult to decide.


I'm rather glad of this comp win for more than one reason, it also gave me the boot up the backside I needed to start posting on this blog again. It got left by the wayside during the summer holidays and I just hadn't found the right topic to get back on here even though I have a fair few FO's under my belt. So now I'm back I'll make an effort to put some pic's on here after the weekend.