Better Get on With Some Knitting

I haven't done a huge amount of knitting this week, but I have made progress with Charlotte's Web. The photo shows what it looks like now, with 20 rows left to do. It is sooo enjoyable to knit, the colours are divine and I hardly notice how long the rows are. It seems to have knitted up very quickly. I am hoping to finish it and have it blocking by the end of the long weekend.

In addition to making progress on Charlotte's Web, I have cast on for the Chicknits Ribby Shell in Jaeger Trinity.

I like the colour but am not sure yet about the texture. Although my gauge is correct, the Trinity is a little lighter than the recommended yarn, so the texture is a little open. I think I will just have to knit it up and see if I like the finished article. What do you think? In any case I think I might knit another one in cotton. I really like the pattern, it just looks so elegant and cool.

I have acquired some more Trinity, in Clay, which I think is simply gorgeous and definitely destined to be another Ivy; and some in Wisteria. There is a pattern in Summer Interweave Knits which might be earmarked for that. I also received my copies of More Sensational Knitted Socks, and Yarnplay. I am going to knit Poppy and the EBTKS for sure, and I rather like Lorelei as well.

I am planning to visit GetKnitted very soon, so this will be the ideal chance to choose some Noro for Poppy.

Mr Knitbert has already been away for two weeks, the time has flown past and have I done all the sorting, organising, gardening and decorating that I thought I would get time for while he was away? Well that would be no. Catbert is coming to visit tomorrow for a couple of days. She has got a super new job, so I am looking forward to hearing all about that.

Oh and I have signed up for a Dalek-Along on the Crafty Threads and Yarns Forum. Well, I needed another project...

The Glaziers Tale

Mr Knitbert and I are fortunate enough to have a lovely conservatory at the back of our house, which is fairly new; new enough at any rate to be still under guarantee. So, in January, when I noticed that there was a small gap, on the outside windowsill, between two sills which join at an angle, I had no hesitation in ringing the service department of the well known double glazing firm who built it to ask them to come and fix it. The company sent out two operatives, who looked at the gap and announced that what was required was a small plastic joint which would seal the gap and join the sills together.
A month went by, and as there had been no word from the company, Mr Knitbert called them to find out what was happening. By an amazing co-incidence, they were just about to chase the matter themselves when he rang. A week later, two more operatives turned up with the part. Imagine their astonishment when they looked at the windowsill and then at their plastic joint. It was half an inch too short! They said they would order one that was half an inch longer. Mr Knitbert suggested that they might like to measure the length of the gap to ensure that the new part was the correct size, but they explained patiently that they were highly trained operatives and could tell through their expert knowledge that the part was half an inch too small and they would simply order one half an inch longer.

A month went by, we went to New Zealand and returned, and as there had been no word from the company, Mr Knitbert called them to find out what was happening. By an amazing co-incidence, they were just about to chase the matter themselves when he rang. A week later, two more operatives turned up with the new part. This time they turned up an hour later than the latest time they had said they would arrive, so Mr Knitbert was already a little tense.
Well. Imagine everyone's surprise when the new part turned out to be EXACTLY the same length as the old part, that is to say half an inch too short.

Mr Knitbert was not amused. He requested that the operatives return within one week with a new part of the correct length. He suggested that they measure the gap this time to ensure that the new part would be the correct size, but they explained nervously that they were highly trained operatives and could tell through their expert knowledge that the part was half an inch too small and they would simply order one half an inch longer.

A week later we got a phone call to say that the new part was ready. Mr Knitbert arranged to stay at home to wait for the operatives. Forty five minutes after the earliest time they should have arrived, I got a call at work on my mobile. The operatives were very sorry but their van had broken down and they would not be able to fit the part that day. I called Mr Knitbert with the good news and put the phone down quickly so I would not have to hear anything which might distress me.

The next week the company called again to say they would like to reschedule the visit, but guess what? Mr Knitbert is now in Singapore, and it is much more difficult for me to be at home during the day waiting for double glazing operatives. I haven't even had time to call them back and arrange the appointment. Maybe I should get Mr Knitbert to call them from Singapore!

A Phone Call From Mr Knitbert

Mr Knitbert has now arrived safely in Singapore, and we spoke on the telephone this morning before he went out to dinner with his colleagues (it's evening there). Afterwards, I thought how amazing that was. First of all, in less than a day, Mr Knitbert has travelled a quarter of the way around the world. Secondly, here I am at home, on a rainy afternoon in England, knitting and watching music videos, and there he is, in Singapore, and we can talk on the phone as if he were just down the road.

In the Pink

Here's my Charlotte's Web shawl so far. It really is fun to knit, each colour change is interesting. I am just starting the fourth ball of yarn, so there is one colour change to go. The new colour is the pinky colours you can see around the edge. Well, OK, yes, there is a pink Denise cord there as well. Yes, alright, I admit it, I bought Christina's pink Denises. *Hangs head in shame*. I told you I didn't have much willpower! They are sooo lovely and pink though.

Here they are in their case, along with the patterns I ordered last weekend, all from Woolly Workshop. I have the MimKnits Mountain Peaks shawl, Heartstrings Faceted Gems lace wrap, Lead or Follow lace scarf and Beaded lace scarf II. I also have two crochet patterns, both by Tess Dawson, the Floral Summer Shrug and the Lacy Cardigan.

I also bought two Chicknits patterns, Ariann and Ribby Shell. I know it's very wrong, but I am being tempted to cast on for the Ribby Shell in my Jaeger Trinity.

From the Card Catalogue Generator

Mr Knitbert is off to Singapore this afternoon for a few weeks, for work. I hope he might send a photo or two of his adventures! He is leaving in two hours and he still hasn't packed...

Clapotis no. 2 - Finished At Last

Well, it has only taken me six months, but here is my Soysilk Clapotis finished at last! I am rather pleased with it. The fabric is very soft and drapey and no, I haven't blocked it, I don't think it needs it.

Now I can get on with Charlotte's Web! While I was taking photos, here is a picture of the semi solid pink laceweight I am intending to knit the Hanami stole in. What do you think?



The top edge of the stole is beaded, and the designer suggests clear beads with a silver insert, as they will look like raindrops. That sounds good to me, but I also wonder if a clear pink with silver inserts might not be nice.

While browsing the internet this afternoon I seem to have bought two new books as well; Yarnplay and More Sensational Knitted Socks. The Devil finds shopping for idle hands, it appears. Thank goodness I will be gardening tomorrow!

Memory Lane, May

This week, Mr Knitbert decided he needed a new external hard drive. His old one is "only" 250GB and he decided that he needed a 400GB one as well. He casually mentioned at dinner one evening that he had ordered it, and the next day when I came home there was one of those irritating little cards on the mat telling you that someone has tried to deliver a parcel.

The next evening I noticed a litle pile of cardboard outside the computer room, so I deduced that the disk had arrived.

In order to make the Memory Lane post this evening, I had to scan in my chosen photo, and as the scanner is in the computer room, I was obliged to open the door and go in. First of all, the pile of cardboard outside had grown bigger, and now included a few plastic bags as well. I cleared it away and flattened the cardboard for recycling so I could get the door open. Inside, I found more paperwork and MORE cardboard strewn over the floor, and worse still, in order to connect the new hard drive to the power, Mr Knitbert had had to disconnect something else, because there are now not enough sockets.

Luckily, the scanner did not seem to be the thing which had been disconnected, and we are off to PC World first thing tomorrow to get a trailing socket with more thingies.

So here is the photo anyway! The picture, which is of me, must have been taken when I was about 3 or 4 I suppose. What am I wearing? What was my mother thinking of? No wonder I have grown up obsessed by textiles and fashion!
I am standing in the driveway of my parents' house, which is where I grew up from the age of about two. The house was newly built and yet had no central heating or double glazing. There was a hearth in the living room and the fire there heated that room and the hot water. There was no heating at all upstairs, and I do remember it being very very cold in winter.

When I was about twelve, I think, my parents invested in some newfangled central heating system, which involved actual radiators being put in the bedrooms, although they were not very efficient and were never turned up too high on account of its being unhealthy to have your room too hot. My mother had a few eccentric ideas about that kind of thing! We never had heating in the kitchen, because it was heated by the cooker when in use, so that would have been wasteful; and the bathroom and toilet were never heated either because of course that would have been unhygienic and encouraged germs. In fact, there was always a window open in the bathroom even in winter. You can imagine how pleasant that was!
It is not surprising, then, that I give a high priority to having a warm and comfortable house.

One last strange fact about this photo is that my brother and his family now live in the house opposite where I am standing. My parents' house was sold nearly twenty years ago. Only a few years ago, Yugbert announced that he was moving again, and when he showed me the house they had decided to buy I was amazed. So now he looks at the house he grew up in every morning out of his bedroom window. I think that's weird, but then that's just me.

Some knitting news: I am trying with some success to finish my Clapotis so I can get on with Charlotte's Web with a clear conscience (and with the Denise cord of the correct size, which is currently in said Clapotis. Or should I just cave in and buy a set of pink Denises? No, don't answer that....my willpower is pitifully low in these matters at the best of times). Anyway, I am on the decrease rows now, so I hope to be able to show a modelled photo later this weekend.

In the meantime I have had a bit of a frenzy of lace pattern buying. I'll show what I ordered when it arrives, but I can show this right away:



Isn't it just the most gorgeous thing you ever saw? It is the Hanami stole from Pink Lemon Twist. I have a skein of Blue Faced Leicester laceweight in semi solid pink from Bright Dyes which is just meant for that stole. I don't have a photo handy, but I'll take one later and post it so you can see what I mean.

Well, I'd better get knitting!