The Knitbert Principle

Knitbert has Moved

2008-06-09T19:47:00.002Z

Start at The End and Work Backwards

2008-04-27T14:03:00.007Z

April has been a busy month! I was away for a whole week on a training course, and what with packing to go away and unpacking when I got back...
Anyway, I've been doing loads of things. Yesterday I went hiking for almost the first time this year. I started in West Hoathly and walked across the Bluebell Railway and around. Here's me by the railway line:

there was a train due in 20 minutes, so we didn't wait, but we did see several puffing through the countryside as we slogged up the hills and across fields. The best part of the walk was the bluebell woods, which were in full bloom with a carpet of blue.

While I was away on my course I did make some progress on the Bergere de France Cable Sweater, but since then I have got sidetracked into glove making. I received a request for some more gloves with a skull motif; here is the first one:

The second glove will have a smiley on the back. For these gloves I used Ann Budd's "Knitters Handy Book of Patterns". While adding the motif, I noticed again that as the unused yarn is carried around, it shows through a little bit in the black areas, and realised that it would be much better if I were to make the pattern go all round the glove. As these gloves are made to a the requirements of someone else, I decided to start another pair of gloves, for me, to try out this technique. You can see this glove at the top of the post. It has a frill round the bottom and a fairisle pattern band, with stripes on the thumb gusset. I've just got to the ring finger. Here's a closeup of the pattern.

I think that's come out much better. When I've finished these and the second black glove, I have a request for another set of skully gloves, and I am going to try designing a fairisle band with skulls in it rather than a skull motif.
Right now I've got two half finished pairs of gloves and a half finished pair of socks to be getting on with, not to mention a cable sweater.
As if that weren't enough, I've decided to have a go at dyeing! Not yarn, though, but fabric. I'll tell you all about that next time. PS for Catbert, here's what your fuschia pink skirt looks like at the moment.

To be continued...

The Knitbert List - April

2008-04-01T21:20:00.006Z

April's list is My Ten Favourite Places:

1. Ambleside in the Lake District. I've had so many happy walking holidays here, with family and friends

2. The Bay of Islands, New Zealand. I love this place, especially the little town of Russell.

3. Nelson, New Zealand. This town just has a good feel to it, and is near the sea and one of the country's National Parks. It has a great market, too, where I got handmade cork shoes and a lovely necklace and earrings.

4. Cambridge. I studied here, and still like to visit and enjoy good food, the river and great pubs, with good friends

5. The West Coast of Scotland. I worked in Oban one summer, and a few years ago I walked the West Highland Way. There is a beautiful, dramatic countryside here which is lovely to walk in

6. Auckland, New Zealand. Breakfast at the Stone Oven, dinner at Monsoon, sailing in Auckand harbour, the Sky Tower, fantastic shops and a beautiful coastline.

7. Paris. I'm going to include Versailles, where I lived for a couple of years. I like the atmosphere and cosiness of Paris, and the grand sweeping avenues of Versailles, not to mention the lovely gardens of the chateau, where I spent many happy Sundays and evenings

8. Alderney. I sailed to Alderney once, the very first trip I made in a sailing yacht. I liked the empty sandy beaches covered with shells, and the little towns.

9. The Greek Islands, where I travelled and holidayed for many years when I was a penniless student.

10. Bath. What a lovely city and so pleasant to wander round. The old Roman Baths are magical too, with the steam rising from the water far below the surface of the modern city

Hmmm, can't help noticing that nowhere I am living now or have lived recently is on the list. I think maybe I need to rethink my strategy for choosing a place to live.

Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend

2008-03-29T09:36:00.005Z

Here's Catbert at Covent Garden, showing off her Diamond Fantasy Shawl. DSoK the Intern and I travelled to London to meet her on Thursday, in order to collect our Christmas presents, which were tickets to the Lord of The Rings at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It was a great show, by the way, if you like LoTR I really recommend it. The sets are amazing. We stayed on for a Q&A session with some cast members after the show and I learned amongst other fascinating facts that it takes Galadriel two hours to have her makeup and hair done, and that the hobbit feet are comfortable to wear.

Sadly hobbit feet were not on offer in the souvenir gift shop, or I would have been sorely tempted.

Here is the shawl before blocking:

And after blocking - what a difference! I was afraid it would not be large enough but in fact it is a good size. I used a skein of Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino Dream in Fiery Fuschia, on 5mm Knitpicks Options, and knitted five and a half repeats as I was afraid of running out of yarn. I really enjoyed knitting it and would like to knit myself one now, maybe in a semisolid.

I've also started knitting the Bergere de France Cable sweater. Here's the first few inches of the back:

There's Hope and Cushions

2008-03-15T11:31:00.009Z

Last weekend I finally finished two cushions which have been On The Hook for ages. The first one is the textured cushion from Erika Knight's Simple Crochet (a fab book for new crocheters btw). I started this in 2006, I do believe, just after attending the crochet course which got me back into knitting and fibre arts. The yarn is a strange kind of raffia like yarn with beads on it, by Ice Yarns, which I got from Yarn Paradise on ebay. I've also got a blue version of this yarn with sequins rather than beads in.

It is a swine to work with because it splits, but it was manageable for the cushion front, as the lace pattern is quite interesting, so I did that quite quickly. Then you are supposed to crochet the back in two pieces, in double crochet (that's single crochet for any US readers). I'm sorry to say that I'm such a shallow crocheter that I found interminable double crochet with a yarn that splits was not enjoyable. What am I like? So I stopped. For over a year. Finally I worked out that I would just use the front, and attach it to a sewn cushion cover, and that's what I've done. I think it looks really cool!

The second cushion is made of granny squares, and it is loosely based on the Modern Afghan pattern, also from Simple Crochet. Regular readers may recall that I started crocheting these aquares about one year ago, mainly on the flight from Hong Kong to Auckland. There was one square which I didn't like so much as the others, and until I got around to frogging that square and redoing it with better colours I was stuck. As soon as I had changed that square I wanted to carry on and complete the cushion, so that's what I have been doing. I just love it and it is so cosy and snuggly.

One day I am going to make a granny square afghan, too, as I just enjoy playing with the colours so much.

I have also got around to tidying up the blog sidebar a bit. Finished in 2006 has gone; I have added the last two projects for 2007, although I must say that the overall total still looks a little pitiful compared to some; and I have created a Finished in 2008 category. So far, it is mid March, and these cushions are my first FOs, which is a bit disturbing, but the Diamond Fantasy Shawl and the second Snowflake sock are whizzing along now.

And finally, I have created a section for the Babette Blanket. I intend to post a photo for the colours for each month's theme and then the crocheted squares when they are done. This month's colours are intended to represent new growth of leaves and buds in Spring.

The Knitbert List - March

2008-03-05T20:19:00.000Z

This year I thought we would have a change from Memory Lane, and have the Knitbert List. I got the idea from Jacquie. So I will publish a list of 10 things each month.

March's List is:

10 Favourite Foods:

1. Smoked salmon
2. Any other kind of salmon
3. Fish and chips (I prefer plaice, but cod is good too)
4. A mixed salad, with watercress and rocket, and assorted vegetables, and a garlic vinaigrette
5. Risotto (any kind - I had one with smoked haddock and chorizo last week, and I also like butternut squash risotto, mushroom risotto, asparagus risotto, well, you get the idea...
6. Pumpkin and Ginger soup (my favourite Hallowe'en recipe)
7. Creme brulee, which I think is a good test of a chef's ability
8. Venison. I once had a wild venison burger and chips, in Geraldine, NZ. Mmmm!
9. Roast Turkey
10. Chocolate mousse. Did you know that this is one of the lowest fat deserts you can have? No really, help yourself to seconds...

As it happens, I have been tagged by Fiona, which means I have to give five facts about myself. So there you are, ten facts for the price of five. I should really tag other people, but I'm still thinking about it.

Last week I finished crocheting my Romance squares for my Babette blanket, for the Crafty Threads and Yarns Quilt a Long (yes, I know it's not a quilt). I like how they have turned out, and I am currently planning my colours for the March theme, which is Hope. I've got some more Karisma from Scandinavian Knitting Designs on order.

I also realised this week that I was about to run out of two marvellous cosmetic creams which I purchased in Singapore last summer. They are by a company called Skin Food, and they really work well, so I was a little worried that I would age ten years overnight, which at my time of life, dear reader, is no laughing matter. Skin Food is a Korean brand, and does not seem to be available in Europe. However, I found Sweet Violet's Gift Shop on ebay, and she stocked some Skin Food products. I emailed her and within 24 hours she was stocking what I had asked about, and some new related products which I most certainly will be trying. I am looking forward to receiving my order, as I'll be able to expose my skin to daylight again.

Catbert will be pleased to learn that I have restarted work on her Diamond Fantasy Shawl, and now have only two repeats to go. Go Knitbert!

Shawl Is Forgiven, but Hooked on Crochet

2008-02-25T19:32:00.005Z

Oh my! Where has the time gone! It's nearly the end of February. I have finished my crochet cushion - or at least the crocheted bit. I'm really pleased with it, I love the colours. I just have to sew a cushion cover and attach it to the front now, which won't happen this week because I'm away from home. I've also got a cunning plan to finish my other crochet cushion, which (if I've got it in my knitting bag) I'll take a photo of later to show you as it's been a UFO for so long that no living reader of my blog will remember it.

Although I have forgiven the shawl, I am temporarily distracted from restarting it (sorry Catbert) by my Quiltalong square for February. The theme is Romance, and I have been crocheting some squares in pinks, purples and greys, which I am enjoying. I was forced to order some new yarn for this, as I did not have anything suitable in stash, and I chose DROPS Karisma from Scandinavian Knitting Design, which is 100% washable wool and very reasonably priced.

It turned up the day after I ordered it, and I must say I love it. It's very soft, and the colours are gorgeous, I'll be buying more of this. It's a dream to crochet with, too.

I've also been tagged, which I'll respond to in my next post, and apparently I've won an award too! I'm off to the Cabled Climber's blog to find out more...

A Right Shawl

2008-01-27T16:54:00.001Z

Last weekend I took Catbert's Diamond Fantasy Scarf to a swimming gala. Now the thing about swimming galas is that mostly all you can see is a lot of splashing, and you can't talk to anyone because you either can't hear them over the sounds of the screaming supporters and the organisers' announcements, or you are being told to be quiet so the swimmers can dive off the side in peace. And they go on for hours and hours. They are ideal for knitting in fact. I confidently expected to complete another repeat at least. After two rows I saw I had made a mistake, and the pattern was one stitch out along the whole row.
What would have been the sensible thing to do? Yes, dear reader, I should have tinked back to the start of the row and sorted it there and then. Instead I thought "it probably won't show" and carried on knitting. I carried on for six rows. Each one looked less alright than the last. Finally, I came to the point where if I knitted another row I would be casting off 5 stitches, and I realised I would have to either rip back or forever hold my peace. It really didn't look right, so I began tinking. By the end of the swimming gala I was nearly back to where I had been at the start.
I spent most of the next morning with my teeth clenched and snarling "I'm knitting lace" whenever anyone came near me, trying to work out where the mistake had come from and how to fix it. In the end I worked it out, and began reknitting, and now I have finished the rows I had to undo and a couple more. I'm still really cross with it, so I've put it in the naughty corner and have been doing crochet for the rest of the week. It looks OK though! and it is going to be very, very nice.

I have finished the first Snowflake sock, with a variegated toe, and I really like it. I'll do the second one soon, no really I will.

Here's the crochet I have been doing, as part of the 2008 Quiltalong on the Crafty Threads and Yarns forum. Yes, I do know it's not a quilt. The theme for January was Snowdrops, so I have interpreted it in colour as crochet squares, using the Babette Blanket pattern from Interweave Crochet. My idea is to do squares from it each month, and have a finished blanket at the end of the year. The photo shows the squares so far, and the colours I have assembled. I will have to be careful not to use too many different colours, so it doesn't look a mess.

I've also restarted my crochet cushion with granny squares that I did last year on the flights to and from New Zealand. The first thing I have done is undo and redo one square, which I didn't think was quite right from a colour point of view, and now I'm going to crochet some more squares. I'll show some photos when I have made a bit more progress.

In Which the Week Ends Better Than It Began

2008-01-11T23:52:00.000Z

Oh my, I wasn't in a good state on Monday was I? Well, it's Friday now and my cold is better, the weekend is ahead and I bought some yarn this afternoon. I got some Regia Crazy Colour, which looks fun, and some black St Ives sock yarn, which I think may be useful for some Skully Socks I have in mind...so things are looking up.

I had a bit of an Amazon moment, too, and I have "Favourite Socks" on its way. And aren't the Snowflakes coming on well? This one is up to the toe now. 100% of readers who expressed a preference were in favour of a contrasting toe (thanks Franney!) so that's what I've decided to do.

Soooo, what would I like to do in 2008? Mmmm, chews pencil thoughtfully.
As far as knitting is concerned, I think I'd like to do the following in 2008:

- Design something and then knit it
- Knit a lot more than I did in 2007
- Knit more socks using my impressive sock yarn stash
- Knit up some of my impressive laceweight stash
- Knit some cardigans and pullovers (maybe even ones I have designed)
- Knit some scarves
- Maybe knit a toy...or a Dalek
- Buy quite a lot more scrumptious yarn which I haven't bought before to replace what I will be knitting up (yeah right).

Most important of all, enjoy knitting and playing with yarn.

I do have a mental list of some patterns which I already know I would like to knit, but I think I won't list them, I'll let it be a surprise!

I'm also doing a Quilt Along on the Crafty Threads and Yarns Forum. The idea is to do a square each month around a defined theme. The square can be quilted or knitted. I do quite like the idea of making an afghan for 2008, with a square for each month, but after my catastrophic failure to qualify even for the Wooden Spoon award for Sock a Month 2007, I don't want to set my expectations too high. January's theme is Snowdrops, and frankly my brain hurts just thinking about it.

Hello Cruel World...

2008-01-07T13:51:00.000Z

In the end I took the rest of last week off, I just could not face returning. So this is my first day back. It was cold and dark when I got up this morning. I have a cold. I couldn't remember my password when I arrived at work (what am I saying? I could hardly remember my own name), so I entered the wrong one three times and was locked out of my account until IT could get around to unlocking it.

All the things I didn't have time to do before the break haven't got done by themselves, so I still have to do them.

I hate January.

I think I need to buy some yarn...

When I'm in a better frame of mind I'll post a picture of my first Snowflake sock, which is nearing completion. Should I do it with a contrasting toe as well, I wonder?
I'll also see if I can think of some objectives for 2008. Groan.

Fifteen Knitters on a Dead Man's Chest

2007-12-31T10:27:00.000Z

Well hello there, and I hope you all had a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas. I have been fortunate enough to be on holiday now since the 21st December, so I have comfortably settled into a routine of waking up late, sitting around with a cup of coffee and browsing the web. I am so not looking forward to the hideous awakening at 6.00 am on 2nd January and the realisation that I actually have to get up NOW and go to work.

Enough of these horrors, dear reader. As you can see, I have been using some of my time productively. The Skully Knucks are finished, and very nice they look too, at least I think so.

Triumph of the season, here are the finished Father and Son socks.

I have knitted a second set of repeats on Catbert's Diamond Fantasy scarf. She said coldly as she departed here after Christmas, having seen the state of it "well, perhaps it can be finished for my NEXT birthday". Well, perhaps.

And I have not been able to resist the temptation to cast on for the Snowflake Socks which are the December pattern from Sockamania. What am I like! I am using some Cygnet wool rich 4 ply in Lilac as the main colour, and a ball of Opal Lollipop as the contrast colour. The contrast is quite subtle, but I think will look very nice when finished. I am going to do one snowflake band around the top and a snowflake on the heel flap, I think.

I have been playing with teaching myself continental knitting over the Christmas break. I have mastered the knit stitch well enough to use it for the colourwork on both the Knucks and the Snowflake sock, so I have been knitting them with one colour in each hand, which is quite efficient. I have been practising knitting the Continental way with just one colour, as well, and I have mixed feelings about it. I have been knitting the Other Way (lever action I think my style is called, so not actually throwing, but yarn in the right hand)since I was five, so this new way feels a little awkward, but I suppose practice makes perfect. My tension is not so even with the new way as with the old, and there are some things (like ribbing, for example) which I know how to do easily with the old way but can't really work out with the new. I'm not even sure the new way will be faster, but having started to learn it I am reluctant to give up without mastering it and knitting something significant with it. I think what I really need is a tutorial from an experienced continental knitter. Any volunteers out there?

Right, better stop procrastinating and get on, I've got loads of stuff to do this morning and I haven't even had my second cup of coffee yet.

Bonsoir from Paris

2007-12-19T20:48:00.000Z

Tonight's post is brought to you from The Hotel Mercure, Massy Palaiseau, as I am in Paris for a business meeting tomorrow. It is now possible to connect to the internet in a hotel room through WiFi, which is very civilised. I had a moment of panic when I realised that I wanted to post photos of some of my WIPs, and I had not brought my camera. However, I do have a mobile phone. So these photos are taken on my mobile phone and then transferred to the PC and uploaded to the internet. Isn't technology amazing!
The light here is poor, although notice how I've cleverly improvised with some sheets of white A4, and the resolution perhaps not what readers of the Knitbert Principle have come to expect, but I think you can get the idea.

I should be knitting Catbert's Diamond Fantasy scarf, and indeed I have made progress! The colours have not come out at all well, but you can see it is bigger than before. Unfortunately, I seem to have got distracted by this fun item:

The glove pattern is Knucks, and I found the skull chart here. Well, I fancied trying some colourwork, what can I say? The yarn is assorted acrylic from my stash. They're cool though, don't you think?

I do have an Important Announcement to make - I have finished the Father and Son Socks!I do not yet have a photo, but I will add one when I get home. I started them in March, and they are my second and indeed I think we can safely say final pair in 2007. I did rather overestimate how many pairs of socks I could knit in a year. Not even a bronze medal from the Crafty Threads and Yarns Sock a Month *hangs head in shame*
Oh well, I think in the New Year I'll look through the Sockamania archives and try some of Anni's lovely patterns.

The Past Is A Foreign Country

2007-12-10T13:25:00.000Z

A friend of mine from a long time ago invited me to see his facebook album today. He is someone who takes lots of photos, and when he was a student the wall of his room was covered with portraits of his friends. He has now scanned and uploaded over a hundred photographs of us all at University, including some of me. The photo at the top was taken after a formal dinner in the month of May, when I was 21. I wasn't sure it was of me at first, but there were some others taken at the same time which show what I am wearing, and I recognise the dress, which was white cotton with flowers painted on it. I remember it because I spilled red wine on it that very evening and I never wore it again.
I think I look quite calm and collected in that photo, as if I knew what was going on and where I was going with my life, but in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

There are also some other photographs of the college, this time taken in winter. I had forgotten that it snowed in winter in those days, but looking at these photographs I remember the biting cold, freezing feet trudging through the snow, wearing layers of thick sweaters to keep warm and toasting bread on the end of a fork around the gas fire.

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
L. P. Hartley ['The Go-Between', 1953]

Memory Lane - December

2007-12-02T13:19:00.000Z

This year has been a year of journeys and discovery, both geographically and otherwise. And that's all I'm saying. So this month I have decided to show some slide shows of the places and people I visited this year. As there are so many to show, I will put a new one up each weekend until Christmas.

WIP It, WIP It....

2007-11-25T21:26:00.000Z

Well, dear reader, I had nearly finished the Father and Son socks and was all ready to start decisively knitting Ivy with the red Berlaine when I unaccountably got distracted. The weekend before last, I went to a meet up of members of the Crafty Threads and Yarns Forum. We had a lovely day, and a delicious lunch, all organised by Granny Smith. Here is everyone chatting and knitting away.

There was also yarn for sale, I'm sorry to say. Here's what I bought:

L to R: laceweight and hand dyed sock yarn from Bright Dyes, even more lovely laceweight from Yarnaddict Yarns, and a gorgeous Merino Tencel sock yarn from the Yarn Yard. The fibre at the front is the result of my first attempt at spinning with a drop spindle. It's pretty pants, isn't it? I enjoyed trying it though.
I wanted to get started on knitting some of this,and I even worked out what pattern I would use with the Yarn Yard Merino/ Tencel.
Then I remembered that it is nearly Christmas, and I ought to be knitting Catbert a scarf, which I actually promised her for her birthday (which was in May). So I cast on, and here it is - the Sivia Harding Diamond Fantasy scarf, in a skein of Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino Dream, shade Fiery Fuschia.

I'm really enjoying knitting it because the colours are so lovely. And I will so finish the socks. And knit Ivy. And knit my merino/tencel lace scarf. And....OK, I'm off to do some actual knitting now.

A Touch of Frost

2007-11-16T22:52:00.000Z

This week, in the morning, the roof I can see from my kitchen window was covered in a thick rime of frost, as was my car. I recently acquired a new car, and I have sold the old one to DSoK the Intern. Well, when I say "sold" - he owes me the money for the car and his insurance, road fund, MoT and service. He's a student, you see. I should do a deal like this every day, I'd be rich in no time...
Anyway, the car I "sold" had a scraper for the ice and a car vacuum in the boot. It still does in fact. MY car, on the other hand, does not. I mentioned to DSoK that I would quite like to have these items back. He laughed, and said, "you need to chill, Mum". I tried to scrape the ice off today with my Tesco Clubcard, and it sort of worked, but the signature on the back is a bit blurry now. I think I'll need to buy a proper scraper. Maybe DSoK could get me one for Christmas!

I promised photos of my Ally Pally acquisitions, and here they are. Two gorgeous skeins of laceweight from Cherry Tree Hill - in shades Serengeti and Fall Foliage.

The red is a merino mohair mix boucle from Touch Yarns, and is the same kind of yarn I bought in Auckland earlier in the year, but in a different colour.

I think the Fall Foliage CTH would make a lovely Leaf Lace shawl - one day.
I'm focusing on finishing WIPs and knitting from stash at the moment. Thanks to a swimming gala I have one of the Father and Son Socks finished now, and the other is well over half way. The next project to be finished will be my Mystery Stole 3, I think - or Swan Lake as I now know it to be. Another project which is capturing my imagination at the moment is my crochet granny square cushion cover, because the colours are so nice.
And - a decision - I am going to knit another Ivy with the red Berlaine. I'm swatching now...

Still Knitting After All These Months

2007-11-03T22:30:00.001Z

Despite many distractions over the last few months, I have been steadily knitting away at my Colinette waffle throw, which is now finished. You can see it in use on my sofa in the photo above. Here it is from the back:

This throw is from the Toast and Marmalade book, and I found it to be a straightforward knit which was good to carry around for knitting at events and in odd moments.

I have only got five or is it six WIPs at the moment, so I have gone straight on to Mr Knitbert's socks (which I started in March, in New Zealand) and we'll take it from there. Here's the two socks, I knitted them both on two circulars until I got to the heel flap and then it seemed simpler to knit one at a time.

It is now getting cold and dark in the mornings and evenings, and I am experiencing a desire to knit warm winter sweaters. I would like to start Poppy, which I have a bag of lovely Noro for, and I also have a strong desire to knit a Central Park Hoodie in my lovely red Donegal Tweed, and a Bergere de France cable sweater, in some lovely soft red Berlaine.

Then this weekend I visted Catbert and we went shopping together. I found a nice wrap top in a lovely apple green, but it was not as nice as the Ivy I knitted at the beginning of the year. I decided I would like to get some more Patons Diploma Gold in Thyme, and knit another one, but John Lewis did not have any in the right colour. Then I thought perhaps, in the spirit of stashbusting, I would knit another one in my red Berlaine. I formed a cunning plan to knit the BdF cable sweater in some very nice pale mauve possum merino yarn I purchased in New Zealand, instead. However, then I realised I still won't have a green wrap top, so maybe I will have to buy some Patons DG anyway. Oh well...

I went to the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally a few weeks ago, and bought some gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill laceweight merino (only £18 per skein, how could I not?) and some Touch Yarns boucle in a delightful red colour. Photos of those next time. Oh yes, and I bought a kit from The African Fabric Shop to make a quilt (see sidebar for their website). Their fabrics are stunning, and as you can imagine I desperately need another addictive craft hobby.

Normal service is about to resume...

2007-10-31T13:58:00.000Z

I'm working on a new post, honest I am. I just need photos! I've even finished knitting something.
I also had a knitting disaster - I have LOST a Clapotis. I wore my lovely soy silk Clapotis to work one day a few weeks ago, and I went out to lunch wearing it. When I went to leave the office that evening, I couldn't find it. I have phoned and been back to the place where I had lunch, and they do not have it and do not remember seeing it left behind. So, I don't know what has become of it. I hope it has gone to a good home. I am rather sad about it, because it was a lovely soft colour and it went with lots of things, and if I knit another I think I will do a different colour, so I will probably never have a chocolate soy silk Clapotis again.
I guess I'll have to be more careful in future.

An Age of Elegance

2007-08-26T12:48:00.000Z

The week in Singapore has flashed past, and I can hardly believe that it is over and that we are heading home. I have relaxed by the pool at the hotel, been to lunch and then to dine at Boat Quay, shopped at some more lovely shopping malls, visited Raffles Hotel and been to the Night Safari, which was fantastic.

Singapore is just a really nice place and I have had a lovely relaxing holiday. The top photo is of the entrance to Raffles Hotel, which is a lovely old building with a great atmosphere.

Here's me in front of the hotel:

This is Mr Knitbert at Raffles, looking elegant on the staircase up to the shops:

We had lunch in the courtyard, which was very pleasant,

and I saw this (I think) mynah bird playing in the fountain.

After lunch we went to the Raffles museum, which is fascinating and full of memorabilia and photos of people who have stayed at Raffles over the years.

Here's the pool at our hotel:

and here I am relaxing beside it with my crochet (which has made good progress, I have finished one skein of Tao now):

The Night Safari is out of the town centre and was just fabulous. It starts after dark, and is basically like a huge zoo or wildlife park full of nocturnal animals from Singapore, India, Africa and Malaysia. It is very dimly lit, so I have not had much luck with photos, but there are a couple I will show you. It is just very atmospheric and really interesting to see the animals at night. I recommend it to anyone. The park also includes the last remaining rainforest in Singapore.

Anyway, here is a photo Mr Knitbert took, of a lake which was lovely and peaceful and you can see the water is still and there are reflections of the trees in the water.

and here is Mr Knitbert at the entrance to the park:

I asked Mr Knitbert what he had in his pocketses and he said if he told me he'd have to shoot me. And Jacquie's really scary story about hair had me worried! But I'm safely home as I finish this post and so far it seems to be OK....

Before I conclude, I'd like to thank the lovely Maid of Flitwick for nominating me for a Rockin' Girl Blogger award. I'm thinking about who to nominate in my turn.

Bad Hair Season

2007-08-21T08:37:00.000Z

Today I am posting from Singapore, where I have been since Sunday (morning for you, afternoon for me). It is a very nice place, clean and safe and full of greenery, water and some rather large shopping malls. This photo is of me outside our hotel. It is rather hot here and very humid, which is a nightmare for my hair. As some of you have noticed, I have recently been straightening my naturally curly hair. Normally it is fine all day as the air is not too humid at home, but here, as soon as I step outside the hotel airconditioning my hair starts inexorably to twist into corkscrew curls. So I have to take all the photos of me very early in the morning, just after my hair has been styled and before it has begun to frizz.

Here are Mr Knitbert and I on our way to the beach.

Here is the water's edge, and me drinking a smoothie which I had just bought. Mr Knitbert was having a 2-scoop ice cream, but his photo is not very flattering.

So far I have been shopping in some great big malls, walked along the beach and had lunch in a little beach side restaurant, and been to Chinatown and bought some silk brocade. This afternoon I went on an amphibious bus, which was once a landing craft in WW2, and which drives around part of the tour and then goes into the water and floats for the other part. Unfortunately I let Mr Knitbert (who has to work in the afternoon and evening) leave with the camera, so I don't have any photos of that bit.

In the evening, I thought it would be good to do some exercise, so I have signed up for a week's membership at a nearby fitness club and I have been going to yoga classes. They are called "hot yoga" and this is because they are done in a room which is heated to about 28C, so you sweat buckets but it helps to stretch your muscles. The level is also fiendishly difficult, and as I have not done yoga for a few years (although I do Pilates) I now have muscles aching in bizarre places. On the other hand, my spine is very flexible!

I have been getting on with my crochet project from Colinette, the Sweet Chestnut scarf from the Arboretum book.

It is in TAO silk, which is gorgeous to work with, in colourway moss. It is probably the most complicated crochet design I have done so far and I am coping with it OK, so I am rather pleased with myself.

I have got my Mystery Stole with me, and am plodding through Clue 2, but I feel more like doing the scarf right now, so that's what I am going with.

I do also have a pair of Mr Knitbert's unfinished socks with me (unfinished since March, that is) and the crochet squares I was doing on the flight to New Zealand, which will one day become a cushion cover. No, really!

A Tale of Two Routers

2007-08-16T19:18:00.000Z

About four weeks ago now, Mr Knitbert set off for another stay in a luxurious hotel in Singapore, where he claims to be working. For the first week all was well chez Knitbert, I worked my way through the enormous backlog of washing up and washing which Mr Knitbert and DSoK had left behind, and in the evening I logged onto my trusty laptop, and sometimes I even did some knitting.

Then, one evening, I logged into my laptop and opened an Internet Explorer window, and it told me that the page could not be displayed and the most likely explanation was that I was not connected to the internet. The router does sometimes drop out, so I entered the router IP address intending to go to the router configuration page and reconnect. To my astonishment the browser could not access the router's own home page. I was bemused. How is such a thing possible? I checked the wireless networks available and our home network just was not there.

I took the laptop upstairs and spent a happy hour or two running hardware tests. Everything checked out OK but the router was just not visible to the laptop. Then I had the idea of turning on Mr Knitbert's computer, which is connected to the router by an Ethernet cable. This computer could see the router and told me that it was connected and indeed it could access the internet. Oh thank God! Only two hours with no internet connection and already I was in a cold sweat and having panic attacks. I was able to read my email and talk to my friends for a bit. Then I began to wonder again what was wrong. I ran hardware tests on the router. No apparent problem. I turned off the router and rebooted it. No change. By now it was 1.00 in the morning and I had matchsticks propping my eyelids open, so I reluctantly gave up and went to bed.

The next evening, I tried the other laptop, and as it could not access the router either I knew that the problem must lie with the router. Or so I thought...
That evening I needed to do some internet banking which Mr Knitbert had been nagging me about over the phone from Singapore only a few days earlier. Now my internet bank has recently changed, and I had completely new details for logging in which I had only tried once. These details were safely stored on my laptop, but not on Mr Knitbert's computer. And I had shredded the letters from the bank. I tried connecting to the internet with my laptop again but there was nothing doing. So I decided to have a go at connecting it to the router with an Ethernet cable. Well. We have three cupboards full of assorted computer and video cables, and it turns out not one of them is an Ethernet cable. By now it was 1.00 in the morning and I had matchsticks propping my eyelids open, so I reluctantly gave up and went to bed.

The next morning I got up early and phoned the bank to send Mr Knitbert his money. Overnight I had had a brilliant idea. That evening, I downloaded new firmware for the router! It was a bit scary, especially the bit where it said that the router would be disconnected from the internet and not to even breathe near it until it had compeltely rebooted. All went well, though, and I excitedly turned on the laptop. I had a different error message! Hooray! Well, no, in fact, I still could not connect, and now it told me that the network I was trying to connect to was hidden. By now it was 1.00 in the morning and I had matchsticks propping my eyelids open, so I reluctantly gave up and went to bed.

The next day I phoned Mr Knitbert and told him the whole story. He laughed and laughed.

Then he made a couple of suggestions for fixing it and authorised the purchase of a new router if those didn't help. When I got home, DSoK was back. He had his laptop out, and it was abandoned on his bedroom floor. He had also worked out that he could access the internet from Mr Knitbert's computer and was going through his emails. "What's the matter with the %$*&ing router?" he asked. I explained. "Have you tried downloading the latest firmware?" he suggested, in that irritating way people have when you have already tried everything. "Yes" I snarled.

I tried Mr Knitbert's suggestions and they didn't work, so I ordered a new router from an online supplier. Then I remembered that the virus checker and firewall for both laptops was on a subscription which had recently expired, and because of all the problems with the internet I had not got around to renewing it. I logged into my account and paid for the new subscriptions. A dreadful thought then began to cross my mind...could the lapsed subsriptions for the firewalls have anything to do with the connection problems? It seemed unlikely, and yet....
DSoK and I disabled and uninstalled the firewalls, and the laptops were still unable to connect to the internet. Phew! So that wasn't it then. DSoK and I had a Chinese takeaway and watched an episode of House. By now it was 1.00 in the morning and I had matchsticks propping my eyelids open, but I needed to get a route for my next day's trip to a friend's house for the weekend. Idly I opened my laptop and switched it on...and it connected instantly to the internet with no problems. I surfed for an hour and then went to bed.

The next morning at 9.30 a courier arrived with my new router. And since that moment my laptop and DSoK's have connected to the internet with no problem at all. Since I paid my Macafee subscription...
Spooky eh?

The Dog Ate My Router

2007-08-08T20:26:00.000Z

Well, hello, dear reader, I'm still here and still knitting; well, still purchasing yarn, anyway! I don't know quite what happened but I've just emerged blinking into the sunlight and realised that a month has gone by and I haven't posted here. I do have a sort of excuse, because I have been having problems with my wireless router. In fact, I now have two wireless routers, and as far as I know they both work fine. I'll tell you all about it in a while, but first let's get up to date with my knitting.
Last weekend I was staying with a friend of mine, let us call her Dogbert, who also likes to knit. On Saturday we drove from her house to Colinette's fabulous factory shop in Wales, where we met Aknita, The Cabled Climber, Melody Yarns and murdo from the Crafty Threads and Yarns forum. Dogbert and I spent a happy morning at Colinette, and I might have bought a few things (whistles nonchalantly). Oh well, OK, since you are twisting my arm, here they are:

This is the Toast and Marmalade pattern book, and the picture you can see is the Waffle throw, which is made from 700g of Colinette Giotto, a rather lovely ribbon yarn.
I decided that I would like to have some simple things to knit up quickly in lovely colours on large needles, as an antidote to Mystery Stole 3, which I am progressing with (slowly) which requires quite a lot of attention. In fact if anyone speaks to me while I am knitting it, or in fact looks as though they are going to speak, I have to start aggressively counting out loud and saying things like "yarn over, slip one knit one, pass slip stitch over, knit two together, I'M KNITTING LACE, knit seven....YES?)

Here is one set of colours I bought for this throw, these ones were from the bargain bin (the other colours I bought weren't though!)

and here is the throw just started. It does grow quite quickly so it is a bit larger than that now. Yes those are Lantern Moons, what of it?

I also bought some Giotto in another set of colours to knit a second Waffle Throw. These are all new colours and I just adore them.The dark one is called Sable, and has black and a deep purple in it, lovely!

Some Prism in colourway Windfall to knit the ballet wrap from Interweave Knits Winter 2005 (makes mental note to self - must renew my sub to Interweave in time for the Fall issue which is imminent, I think),

and some gorgeous, soft, silk Tao in moss, which is to crochet the Sweet Chestnut scarf from Colinette's Arboretum book. The plan is to crochet this on the aircraft because yes, dear reader, Knitbert is travelling again. Next Saturday I am off to Singapore for a week to join Mr Knitbert who has been there for three weeks so far this time. It's a thirteen hour flight, so should be just about right, and I'll have my granny squares as a backup.

Now this gorgeous yarn is handspun and was sent to me, along with these divine stitchmarkers (which she made herself),
by Noo, as part of the Crafty Threads and Yarns "one skein" swap. Isn't that a lovely parcel? I am so pleased with it, and it is the softest, loveliest yarn you could ever imagine, and in those beautiful shades of sea green. I think I'm going to make it into a scarf.

One final new acquisition and then I'll stop for now. I'll tell you all about the router tomorrow, I promise. When I met murdo at Colinette, she brought me....a set of Knitpicks Options! which she had been kind enough to include in her order from a friend in the States. They are sooo lovely...I have wanted some for a while now, and am delighted with them.

The photo at the top is me at the start of a walk I took with DSoK earlier this month, which involved a lot of rain, as you can see...but it's been lovely this week so far, fingers crossed that summer is finally here.

In Which I don't Visit Woolfest After All, and Mr Knitbert's Computer Makes a Funny Noise.

2007-07-06T19:18:00.000Z

Well, first of all, I am alright Aknita, thank you for asking. And look, I finished my Ribby Shell! I'm rather pleased with it, I must say, and I have plans (and yarn!) to knit another (although possibly not time...). Here's a back view:

So, what's the story about Woolfest, I hear you ask? Well, Mr Knitbert and I drove like the wind last Friday evening (although respecting speed limits obviously) and apart from a little traffic around the M25, we reached Southport just before dark in a very respectable six hours, including a stop for food. Aren't those M&S Simply Food things on motorways just fabulous? What a brilliant idea!

We spent a convivial evening with our friends, and retired late, awaking the next morning to steady rainfall and severe weather warnings. Over breakfast we considered our options; drive for another two hours in the rain and then visit Woolfest in the rain, or stay in Southport and spend the day with our friends and their family? They did not think they would like to visit Woolfest if it was not going to be a gloriously sunny day, and I could see their point (they don't knit). So, in the end, we decided we would prefer to stay with our friends and we went shopping in Southport, which is a delightful little place, and Mr Knitbert had a Significant Haircut.

I was sorry not to get to Woolfest, but I will try again next year, and I did have a lovely weekend. I wish I could say that not going had saved me money, but that's another story!

While I was away, Clue 1 was posted for the Mystery Stole, and since then Clue 2 has been posted as well. The first two clues were looking gorgeous in the photos posted on the Group, so I was quite excited about beginning mine. I think the pattern looks quite Elvish, so maybe the theme is to do with Lord of the Rings? Anyway, I got started yesterday afternoon, finally, and here is where I had got to by yesterday evening:

As a reminder, I am using Cherry Tree Hill laceweight merino (gorgeous to knit with) in Wild Cherry, and silver-lined amethyst beads, which look just perfect with the colours of the yarn. The pattern is very well written, and the charts are clear, and I am really enjoying knitting it so far. I have got to row 50, so am just about to start charts B and C of Clue 1. I am hopeful of catching up with Clue 2 by Friday, although I do think that any thoughts I might have had about knitting Catbert's (late) birthday present or finishing Mr Knitbert's socks, or even starting some new socks, or...well, you see what I mean.

I should also confess that two weeks ago I went into a fabric shop and bought fabric to make three skirts, for which I have first to design the pattern pieces. I don't know what I was thinking of! Except that I really want to make these skirts because they will look so gorgeous. Certainly not of the amount of time I actually have available, that's for sure! I'll post some pictures of the fabric next time, and maybe a sketch of what I am going to do with it.

And finally, for Mr Knitbert's army of fans, a story about his computer. Two weeks ago, I was woken up very early one morning by a dreadful rattling sound coming from the computer room. "What the **** is that awful noise?" I asked grumpily. I am not a morning person.

"It's my computer," replied Mr Knitbert, gloomily.
"What's wrong with it?" I yawned. "And where is my coffee?"
" I don't know," said Mr Knitbert, despondently. "I think it might be the CPU cooling fan." Needless to say, dear reader, the side was already off the computer and there were screws and tiny screwdrivers everywhere.

Later that day the hoover was in the computer room and appeared to have been used (I was amazed that Mr Knitbert even knew how to turn it on). The hoovering made no difference to the noise, however, so Mr Knitbert decided that as long as he started the computer up, let it run for a few minutes and then restarted it, it worked OK. This worked for two days and then he began having to restart it three and even four times, and it was still making an awful noise. I was getting very grumpy by this time. The constant restarting of the computer was delaying my morning coffee.

He then decided that it was definitely the CPU cooling fan, so he ordered a new one. It came two days later by the first post. I heard the sound of him running downstairs to sign for it, and then running back upstairs to the computer room. The next thing I heard was the sound of someone walking very carefully down the stairs as if they were carrying something heavy. Well, in fact, the computer was being carried down to the conservatory to be fitted with its new fan. Half an hour later it was back, and Mr Knitbert switched it on, saying "Tada!"; alas, prematurely. The ghastly rattling sound started up again.

"Hmmmm," said Mr Knitbert thoughtfully, "it must be the power supply". We had a spare one of those left over from a problem with DSoK's computer a few months back (would you buy a second hand computer from this family? I wouldn't), so he went off to find that. I should perhaps mention at this point that the last time something like this happened to Mr Knitbert's computer he replaced the cooling fans, the CPU, the motherboard and then the sound and graphics cards just for fun.

The next morning I woke up at a normal time to a blissful silence from the computer room.
"Oh, " I said, "you fixed it! Was it the power supply then?"
" No," he replied, "it was the second hard drive." Sure enough, there it was, in its little tray, cluttering up the desk. And there it still is, and will probably stay until I clear it away.

Woolfest

2007-06-28T22:37:00.000Z

Tomorrow afternoon Mr Knitbert and I are off to stay with some old friends in Southport, from where we are intending to head to Cumbria on Saturday, weather permitting, to visit Woolfest. I promise to take photos and post them when we get back. I have been wondering what kind of stash enhancement I should consider; I think I have enough sock yarn, I certainly have enough aran tweed! I am thinking laceweight is the way to go...

On the way back we are calling in to see DSoK, and to pick up all his stuff and bring it here for the summer. He muttered something about being fed up with where he is at present and being ready to come home, from which I deduce that he has run out of money and used up all his clean clothes.

Swatching in My Sleep?

2007-06-23T12:48:00.000Z

Well, despite a rather hectic week in which I seemed to get home completely exhausted every evening, I have knitted another Mystery Stole swatch in the Cherry Tree Hill laceweight merino, blocked it and chosen some new beads to go with it. I have no idea when I did all this! Maybe I have finally learned to knit while I sleep. Anyway, here is the yarn now wound into a ball, and the swatch. I really enjoyed knitting with this yarn and I adore the colour, which I think is not too variegated to show off the lace pattern, so my choice is made. I ordered three new packs of beads from e-beads, some jet beads which are black and shiny, some rainbow beads which are light coloured, and some silver-lined amethyst beads which are just right!

Here is a close up of the swatch and the beads on a neutral ground. The beads look quite black in this photo, but in reality they are dark purple with a little flash of silvery purple where the silver lining is. They are absolutely beautiful.
I have an idea that I would like to use the jet beads with some grey laceweight. One day.
I have knitted another two inches of the Ribby Shell, but it still looks like a featureless tube, so I haven't taken another photo. I hope to get to the front and back later this weekend. And I have done precisely no sock knitting, I really have to do something about this as I will be expelled from the sockamania KAL if I don't join in this month, and I think I should be in line for the wooden spoon as far as knitting a sock a month is concerned. *Hangs head in shame*. So, Anni, I promise that I will at least start July's sockamania socks.

I was away from home again earlier this week, in Paris this time, and for once it was a sultry 30 degrees C and did not rain. While I was away DSoK the Intern tried several times to call me, and continued to leave messages on the answering machine. I avoided returning his calls as I was fairly sure he wanted to borrow money, but following a plaintive text message on Friday afternoon I decided I was a Bad Mother and gave him a ring. Well, how wrong could I be! He certainly did not need to borrow any money. However, he did want to arrange when we will drive up to collect all his stuff so it can be stored here over the summer. He also reported that he had been tidying his room for two weeks and it still looked a complete shambles. Mmmmm. I wonder if we have the same definition of the word "tidying"?

In Which I Meet a Mysterious Stranger, I Mean Stole, and Mr Knitbert Completes a Gardening Task

2007-06-16T20:41:00.000Z

Before any of that, I was reminded this week that I should never travel in June. Actually, I don't travel very much at all these days, which is by choice, but a few years ago I used to travel very frequently for work; at least one or two trips a month. June was always a peak time, as people want to get things done before the summer holiday season starts. For some reason, there often seems to be a sudden change in the weather around mid-June, from warm and sunny to wet and cold. Time after time I would set off, thinking that my destination would be warmer than the UK, only to find myself shivering in flimsy summer clothes as I disembarked from the aircraft, or picking my way across a sodden car park in the p*****g rain, in unsuitable strappy sandals, on my way to collect a hire car. One year I remember that the temperature in Paris all week was 10 degrees(C)lower than it had been in London. Of course I never had so much as a warm cardigan with me, let alone a coat or umbrella.

On Thursday afternoon, I had to go to Amsterdam to attend a training course on Friday. Guesss what? The weather in Amsterdam was appalling, so as soon as they had got us settled on the aircraft, the pilot announced that owing to air traffic delays because of the weather, we would be taking off two hours late. Normally this would not be a problem for me (see Last Train to Knitville) but can you knit on an aircraft? Well, that would be no. Luckily, I have plenty of knitting podcasts on my iPod to keep me occupied.

When we finally arrived, Amsterdam was swathed in a heavy curtain of rain under a lowering grey sky and it was freezing cold. Unsuitable strappy sandals? Oh yes. Flimsy summer clothes and no warm jacket? Of course.

As it happened I enjoyed my short visit anyway; I stayed in my favourite hotel, the sun was shining the next day, I met up with some colleagues I hadn't seen for a while, and I even had time for some shopping before I returned to the airport to catch the flight home. At which point I learned that bad weather in the UK had caused air traffic delays and the return flight was delayed by an hour. Aaaaargh! So I am seriously thinking of taking an emergency crochet pack with me next time I fly...

Last weekend I discovered Pink Lemon Twist's Mystery Stole 3 Knitalong. The Mystery Stole idea seemed so much fun that I joined up, and I have been receiving 200 mails a day ever since from the MS3 Yahoo Group; I have had to switch to receiving digests! There are 1800 odd knitters signed up at the time of writing this post, and going onto the group is like going into a huuuuge room full of people all chattering about the same thing, it has an amazing energy. At the moment, everyone is asking questions about what yarn to use and in what colours and whether or not to use beads.

For once, I am going to knit this from stash; I am using some Fyberspates kid mohair laceweight which I bought from Yarn Addict last year. It is in a colourway called Martian Sunrise. There is a swatch pattern already posted, and here is my swatch.

It has beads in two different colours sewn along the bottom edge, and I have decided to use the copper lined crystal beads from e-beads, which are on the left.
Or have I? Since writing this I remembered that I also have some Cherry Tree Hill laceweight merino in stash, in a lovely red colour called Wild Cherry. This morning I got it out, and here is the skein:

I have wound it (all 2400 yards of it) into a ball this morning, and now I really love the colour and I think I may have changed my mind, so I am going to swatch with this too. In which case I'll need different beads. Oh, well...

The first clue is being posted on 29th June, and the KAL is open to sign-ups until 6th July, but you can read all about it on her blog at the link above.

Well, it's not exactly a DIY project, but it's a bit more than mowing the lawn...
I planted a buddleia in our front lawn about five or six years ago when it was very small and spindly, and over the years it has grown rather large. In the summer, it had started spreading over the edge of the garden and intruding into the space where the neighbours park one of their cars. For the last two years, they have pruned it a bit and I have pruned it a bit, but it just kept on growing, and last week I decided that it had to come out.

We removed all the branches first (in some cases with a saw) and then started trying to dislodge the roots with a spade and fork. There was a tense moment when Mr Knitbert managed to spray earth all over me, including in my hair, which I had just spent hours styling. I explained, quite calmly and reasonably I thought, that I would probably have to go straight back inside and redo my hair. I'm afraid Mr Knitbert's reply can only be described as unsympathetic.

We continued digging, and after a while with little progress, Mr Knitbert decided that he would use the car to pull the roots out. This was quite exciting! We tied some old webbing jackstays around the shrub and Mr Knitbert attached the other end to the car somehow. The car inched forward, the shrub leaned over and then after a while the webbing snapped and the shrub sprang back to its original position.

We returned to digging, and this time managed to loosen, and then extract, the shrub and most of its roots. I am reasonably sure that even an inch of buddleia root will simply grow back to an enormous shrub in time, but for the moment the neighbours can park without fear, and Mr Knitbert can claim credit for finishing a gardening task.

And finally, here's my progress with the Ribby Shell. I have done 10.5 inches, so only 3 inches to go before I can divide for the front and back neck. I know it doesn't look very exciting yet, but it will...I tried it on and it fits well, which is good, so I am looking forward to completing it.

The next project (apart from MS3) is for Catbert, and it will be in this yarn, which is Lucy Neatby's Celestial Merino Dream in Fiery Fuschia. I must say I love the colours. I am going to be using Sivia Harding's Fantasy Shawl pattern, which can be done in a scarf size with one skein.

Memory Lane, June

2007-06-09T08:24:00.000Z

This month's Memory Lane, appropriately, is from the Glastonbury Festival. The photograph, which has a date stamp in the top left corner, is of me and Ratbert in front of the main stage on Sunday morning. A guy with a lot of VERY expensive looking camera equipment was wandering though the crowd, and in one hand he had a polaroid camera (remember those!), and for a reasonable fee you could get him to take a photo, so that's what I did.

I was introduced to the Glastonbury Festival in the early 90s by some friends who had been going for years, since long before it was famous like it is today, and I loved it so much that I went nearly every year it was on for about five years. I was there the year that someone was shot, with an air rifle I think, and even that didn't spoil it for me.

It is such a magical event; after the first year, I remember that when I returned, as soon as I was walking from the car park to the entrance and I saw the blades turning on the big wind turbine that powers the main stage, I felt as if the Festival had been there all the time since I left, in some kind of alternate universe, and I could just walk back into it.

We generally used to camp up on the hill, overlooking the festival site, so at night I could look down and see lights and people, and hear music, and it always seemed to me that there were great flares of magical energy rising into the night. I am the sort of irritating person who can sleep almost anywhere, and I find it relaxing to fall asleep to the sound of very, very loud music, only to be woken at four in the morning by the sound of people tripping over the tent pegs, giggling stupidly and then, more often than not, puking.

In the clear, early morning light there were usually sleeping bodies everywhere which you had to step carefully over to make your way to the toilets, and at that point I will say no more, because you either know what I am talking about or you don't.

The last time I went to Glastonbury was one of the years with mud, and I have another photograph of me standing in a sea of mud which I haven't scanned. I didn't find the mud very magical, and I prefer to remember the festival as it was for the other years. I guess it must have put me off a bit, because I didn't go the following year, and then after that I met Mr Knitbert, whose views on camping and being woken by people puking outside the tent are not printable, so I have not been again since.

Some years later, when DSOK the intern had just finished his A levels, he suddenly announced that he had got tickets for Glastonbury. Once I had got over being weirded out by having a son who was old enough to go to a rock festival, I began to think I would like to go again some year. This caused DSOK to be weirded out by the idea of his mother being at the same rock festival as him, so we have agreed that if we meet there we will pretend we don't know each other, although I have a pretty shrewd idea that if he ran out of money during the weekend he might change his tune.

Anyway, I have not yet managed to organise myself to get tickets, but DSOK went again the following year, which was the year that there was a great thunderstorm and some people's tents were washed away. This resulted in the following memorable phone call:

DSOK: yuuuuuurgh? (that's his normal phone answering phrase)
Knitbert: Hey, how's it going?
DSOK: uuuuugh? Oh,hey Mum!
Knitbert: There was a storm this morning, did you hear it?
DSOK: You what?
Knitbert: Was there a lot of rain?
DSOK: Whaaatimeissit?
Knitbert: Was your tent flooded?
DSOK: Naaa I don't think so. Ow, my head! Whassatime?
Knitbert: Did you see the flood?
DSOK: Er,my phone's about to - *beeeeeeeeeeeeeep!*

Well, writing about it has made me want to get tickets again, so maybe next year...

Back to real life and the present, and here are a couple of modelled pics of Charlotte's Web, as promised:

Slow but steady progress on the Ribby Shell in Calmer:

And here is a photo of me at Get Knitted, taken by the lovely Granny Smith:

I'm knitting a tension square by the way (she said smugly).

Reminder - Sock Yarn Doesn't Count

2007-06-07T21:38:00.000Z

I would just like to make the point that sock yarn DOESN'T count as stash, as someone recently reminded me.
Besides, that only brings me to enough yarn to make 32 pairs of socks. I think. Now so far this year I have made, um...one and a half pairs. Let me see, that means at the current rate it will take me just under eleven years to knit it all up. If I were to be so obsessive as to do such a calculation.

And anyway, last year I knitted five pairs actually...

A Grand Day Out

2007-06-03T11:13:00.001Z

Charlotte is finished and blocked at last, here she is on the back of our settee. I promise to post some modelled pictures later; I have to wait for Mr Knitbert to wake up first. He arrived home at 7.30 am this morning, woke me up, trashed the kitchen (laundry everywhere), the bathroom (towels all over the floor)and the living room (open suitcase and clean clothes, bags, keys, little rucsacs), had two cups of coffee and a bath and is now sleeping off his jet lag upstairs. It's nice to have him back! The Glaziers (see an earlier post) are coming again on Monday morning to ruin his day off.

Yesterday I went to Get Knitted in Bristol with a group of friends from the Crafty Threads and Yarns Forum. I had a lovely time, and bought some much needed yarn stocks (yeah right). It is just so nice to spend time with other knitters and see what they are doing. I took the opportunity to get a second opinion on the Ribby Shell situation, and my fellow knitters were in agreement with me that the texture of the Jaeger Trinity at the correct tension was too loose and not elastic enough - which is, after all, a fairly key feature of the Ribby Shell design. I frogged it then and there, and the Trinity is back in the yarn cupboard for now. I have chosen two new yarns for the Ribby Shell; Rowan Calmer in this lovely coral colour (now OTN!)

I've never used Calmer before and OMG I love this stuff! It is very soft, a little bulkier than the Trinity, so the texture is just right at gauge, and it is lovely and stretchy and elastic. I think it is perfect for the pattern and if I like the result I will get some more in another colour to knit another one. I also got some Rowan Bamboo Tape in a nice purple colour to knit the Ribby Shell (I like this pattern, can you tell). It is very soft and there was a knitted swatch in the shop which made me think it would be lovely for this. It comes in some fabulous colours...

What else did I get? Well, I got some Noro Silk Garden and some Cash Iroha to knit Poppy from Yarnplay (the red looks a bit too red because of the flash - it is more of a dark russet colour in real life):

I got some Trekking XXL and some Lana Grossa Mega Boots:

I also got some Twilleys Freedom Spirit in Air, to knit a tank top, the Freedom Spirit pattern booklet, and a pair of addi lace circulars. Here's the whole haul all laid out nicely!

And why do I want to knit a tank top? Well, I saw this one worn by Eva Mendes in a movie called Hitch the other night. I will need to modify the Twilley's pattern a little (by dropping the neckline), or make my own pattern, but I think it is a great look, and would be fab in Air with a white linen shirt. What do you think?

Better Get on With Some Knitting

2007-05-25T21:03:00.000Z

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

2007-05-18T21:22:00.000Z

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

2007-05-13T14:05:00.000Z

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

2007-05-12T13:26:00.000Z

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

2007-05-06T16:25:00.000Z

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

2007-05-04T18:24:00.000Z

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!

Three Wishes

2007-04-28T18:18:00.000Z

Oh, my, where has this month gone? I can't believe it is already nearly a month since we returned home. I just realised that if I don't make my Blogalong post right now, then I will be too late. You may also have missed the regular Memory Lane post this month, but it will be returning at the beginning of May.

So, three wishes. Oh, well, wish one is easy:

I wish for more time in every day, to spend knitting, sewing, blogging and talking to my online friends. I don't want to give up working, because I enjoy that too, so I need more hours in the day, or else I need to do with less sleep. Sadly, I am not one of those who can sleep for three or four hours a night, Knitbert needs her beauty sleep! I am strictly an eight hours a night girl.

Last weekend I went up to London to meet with my friend Dogbert, who is a successful management consultant with her own company (which is how we met) and who turned out to have been a keen knitter some years ago and guess what! she is now a keen knitter once more (evil laugh).
We met for coffee just outside Liberty's, and made our way to Stash Yarns in Putney. We had been to an Adventures in Knitting course here last November, and we were delighted to see our tutor on that occasion, the very talented and creative Nickerjac, in the shop again. What a gorgeous shop this is! First of all, it is very welcoming and full of people knitting and talking about knitting, and secondly it is just an Aladdin's cave of gorgeous colours and textures.
So here's the thing. I bought rather a lot of yarn while I was away, and I didn't knit a huge amount. Since I have been back I might have just bought a teeny tiny skein of BFL laceweight in semi solid pink from Bright Dyes, but otherwise I have been trying to finish Mr Knitbert's socks and frankly the stash cupboard is full. I mean really full, I can't get anything new into it. So, I was absolutely determined not to buy any yarn at all. I thought I might buy a pattern or two, and maybe some needles.
Sadly, I think you can see where this is going. Well, some evil person in Stash had laid out copies of the Charlotte's Web shawl pattern, which I have been wanting to knit for ages, and worse than that, they had laid out sets of Koigu KPPM skeins in suitable colours. Probably the time between my entering the shop and my knowing that I was going to buy the pattern and some Koigu to knit it was at least ten minutes...but the fact is, you have to see the colours and play with the different skeins together, you can't buy a thing like that over the internet, now can you?
Anyway, here is my shawl so far, and all the colours I chose (with Nic's help) for it. Isn't it fab?I am soooo enjoying knitting it.

Wish two:
DSoK the Intern was in a philosophical mood after my reunion weekend, and we spent a lot of time talking about the importance of friends, and how one of the best things in life is to spend time in nice places, eating good food and just talking with good friends. Many of my friends are those I made years ago, and while it is lovely to see them, I think it would be nice to make new friends, too, and to develop those friendships which have begun more recently (some of them here or on knitting forums). So, my second wish is for more occasions to spend time with my friends, and more friends to spend time with.

Mmmm, while I think about my third wish, here are a couple of other photos to prove that I have been knitting this week. I have nearly finished my Chocolate Soy Silk Clapotis, and I have made quite a lot of progress with Mr Knitbert's Father and Son socks, although they are not going to be done in time for the April Sock a Month challenge. I would just like to call attention to the fact there there are two of them, and they are on two circs (smug).

Wish no 3
I think that my third wish has to be for good health, which is not something to be taken for granted. I know that some of my friends have overcome or live with health problems and still live a full and happy life, and how much I admire them for that. Me, I'm unbearable if I have even a little cold!

Right, I'm off to read the other Three Wishes Blogalong posts now!

A Toast to Friendship

2007-04-20T18:37:00.000Z

Take a seat, dear reader, relax. Have a glass of wine. Red or white? Or champagne? There are nibbles in those dishes over there, help yourself.

Well, this week seems to have flashed past, I don't know where the time has gone. Not on knitting, that's for sure! DSoK the Intern has been staying with us since we came home from New Zealand, since he has Important Revision to do and has NO money until term starts, so required a free place to stay.
He appeared to be eating his own weight in...well, in whatever he could find to eat in the house actually. Shortly after we returned I came home from work to find that he had eaten everything in the refrigerator and was starting on the freezer. A quick trip to the supermarket sorted that out, and once he had his own jar of peanut butter things began to settle down.

Last weekend we all went to stay with Catbert. It happens that she lives in the town where she went to university, which is also the town where I went to university. Two of my old friends from those days had organised a get together for quite a number of us on Saturday night, with a lovely dinner, and we were all meeting up for lunch first and then staying on until Sunday for another lunch. DSoK was quite excited at all the opportunities there would be for eating.

We met up with everyone at a pub in the early afternoon. What a glorious day it was, too, perfect for sitting in the spring sunshine and talking with friends. After lunch, some people went punting with their families. Apparently there were twelve of them in a five person punt. You would think people of our age would be more responsible, wouldn't you?

Mr Knitbert and I returned to Catbert's house to change, and to pick up DSoK, who was still frantically revising. Here we are just before dinner, all spiffied up. Mr Knitbert is wearing his Hong Kong suit, by the way. Doesn't it look great?

The dinner was lovely, and we all talked and caught up until the small hours of the morning, when the four of us walked home. Up again the next morning to have a quick breakfast and meet at a different pub for lunch. What a life! Apparently one of our number awoke next morning to find himself upside down in bed, fully clothed apart from one shoe, and with four text messages on his phone all asking him if he felt alright. You may draw your own conclusions, dear reader! He knows who he is...

I don't think that there are many better ways to spend your time than talking with old friends, with your family around you, in a garden by a river on a glorious spring day.

The Knitbert Interview - 5 question interview

2007-04-11T12:17:00.000Z

Today I thought it was time to have a short break from photos of New Zealand, and as I saw the five question interview on Jacquie's Journal, I asked Jacquie to interview me and she has kindly sent me the questions below. Thank you Jacquie!

If anyone reading would like to be interviewed by me then ask me in a comment, or email knitbert AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk, and I will send you five questions.

Here's my interview:
1. How did you meet your husband and how did you know he was “the one”?

I met Mr Knitbert at work. I had just returned to my UK company after a two year secondment, living and working in Paris. The site where I had been working in the UK was closing down and I moved to another site, where the project I was in charge of involved holding meetings with various people from the new site. Mr Knitbert was one of these people, usually, by the way, to be found at the back of the room asking awkward questions.

He was assigned to work on a task which I was managing and one day we had to go and interview someone together. On the way we were idly chatting, and I happened to ask him if he had read the book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat" by Oliver Sachs. I was expecting the usual answer from colleagues in my line of work, which is "what? never heard of it!", but he said yes he had! That captured my attention, and we began talking about less superficial things and soon discovered that we had a lot in common.

I am very particular about how I like things to be done, and Mr Knitbert is very laid back and quite happy to let me do things my way (most of the time!).

2. Have you settled back into “real life” again OK after your fabulous
trip?

I must say I am struggling a bit with this. On the face of it I am back to normal, everything is unpacked and I am back into my normal routine, but somehow this trip has been unsettling, and I don't know why. I have been to New Zealand before; in fact this trip was step two in a longer term plan to go and live there, at least for a while; and although I enjoyed my visit last time, I did not feel so reluctant to come home as I feel now. I really did not want to get on the plane to come home!

Like the Kenneth Grahame quote in my last post, "real life" seems pale and thin and very far away at the moment. I don't know if it is because our trip involved a holiday with the whole family, which happens very rarely now, or because I discovered something while I was travelling which is missing from everyday life and needs to be changed.

I'll keep you posted!

3. How do you normally manage meals in your house with a resident
vegetarian?

Most of the time I cook vegetarian food for everyone, because it is the easiest way. I love vegetarian food, and it is often more interesting to cook as well, because it involves many flavours and textures (although there really is a LOT of chopping involved!). If there are several meat eaters present, or when we invite guests, then I cook both veggie and non-veggie options. It is usually quite easy to split the meal at a certain point in the cooking and add the meat, as long as I plan this in advance.

Over the years, I have found that I prefer a diet which is low in meat and fish, but I would not like to give them up altogether, especially fish and seafood (yum).

4. If you were offered the chance to boldly go where no man (or woman) has
gone before would you take it and why?

In my present rather restless mood (see 2.) I certainly would!
More seriously, it is my belief that in life we are more likely to regret what we have not done than what we have done. I also believe that if opportunities present themselves, it is for a reason, and that it is good for us to be stretched and to move outside our comfort zone from time to time. I hope that I will never stop learning and developing as a person. For all those reasons I would have to say, yes.

5. What attracted you to knitting?

I learned to knit when I was very young, and my mother always had knitting on the go. So one reason is almost certainly that I associate knitting with pleasant, comforting memories. Another factor is that I love the textures and colours of the fibres, and of the needles and stitchmarkers. I love to have beautiful, colourful things around me. I would also have to say that I enjoy the process of imagining something and then bringing it into being from the fibre, it is very rewarding. And, finally, I enjoy the knitting itself. I can switch off the mind and focus on the movements of the hands and this is very calming, like a meditation.

Just Now, Our Blood Dances to Other Music

2007-04-07T16:35:00.000Z

At last, all the suitcases have been emptied and put away, and all that is left is three new bags of yarn, one bag of sock yarn which I took with me, and these fat quarters. I bought them in Devonport, in Cushla's Village Fabrics. They are from an extensive range of New Zealand batik, which features motifs from New Zealand culture and nature. I think they are just gorgeous. The silver fern ones are probably my favourites.

The helpful lady in Cushla's told me that she will ship overseas and that fat quarters, if there are not too many of them, will often go in one envelope, so do not require too much postage.

I have an idea that I might take some of my photos and print them onto fabric, then create a cushion with the image at the centre and use some of these fabrics as a border. I think I might be able to make a set of three or four. What do you think? I have so many photos from this trip that the difficulty will be choosing.

This photo is from the balcony of our hotel in Nelson, which was on the banks of the Maitai river. In the publicity photo for the hotel it showed the river like it is here, flowing past the hotel and with a canoe on it. When we woke up on the first morning I thought at first they must be in the throes of some dreadful drought, the river was more or less a trickle along the far bank. Of course, it is a tidal river and the tide was out. Duh!

I really liked Nelson, which I had not visited before. We explored the town on the first day and went to an excellent market full of local art and crafts, then to the Bead Gallery as recommended by Catbert's guidebook. What a fabulous shop! It is stuffed full of beads and jewellery of all different types and colours. I spent an hour in there, or so I thought, and came out to find that DSoK was a middle aged man and Mr Knitbert had aged twenty years. No, not really, but they did look a bit bored. I bought the necklaces and earrings on the left at the Bead Gallery, and the necklace and earrings on the right at a handmade jewellery stall at the market. This necklace is made of carnelian beads painted with copper.

The next day, Catbert and DSoK went sea kayaking in a little place called Marahau, about one hour's drive along the coast and opposite the Abel Tasman Park. Mr Knitbert and I spent the afternoon on this deserted beach while we waited for them.

While we waited, we visited the local cafe and indulged in a coffee and a snack called a Seriously Yummy Cookie. And it was, dear reader, it really was. I think chocolate was involved, and some nuts, but apart from that I cannot now remember. It was also a Seriously Large Cookie, and if I had made a habit of eating them I should have become a Seriously Large Knitbert.

For our last day here we had booked a water taxi to take us from Marahau across to the Abel Tasman Park, where we walked along the coastal track to another bay, where we were picked up at the end of the afternoon. The water taxis were cool!

The boats are on a trailer, which is towed along by a tractor to the water's edge, with all the passengers in it. At high tide there is a ramp down to the sea, but at low tide the tractors drive right onto the sand and out into the water. Then the boats are floated off the trailer and zoom off at high speed towards the park.

I will not bore you with too many photos, but the park is beautiful, and we enjoyed our walk. Here are just a few pictures of our day. We were exhausted when we got back, and I sank gratefully into a hot spa bath at the hotel.

`In due time, we shall be home-sick once more for quiet water-lilies swaying on the surface of an English stream. But to-day all that seems pale and thin and very far away. Just now our blood dances to other music.'

Wind In the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

Marlborough Sound

2007-04-05T11:35:00.000Z

I can't resist showing you some more pictures of Marlborough Sound before I continue with my account of our journey. It is difficult to convey through individual pictures just how striking and how beautiful the scenery is, because it just looks as though I am showing the same picture over and over again.

Imagine that you are on the deck of a slow-moving ship, in the warm sunshine, and that you are leaning on the rail and looking out across the water. For an hour and a half, the images you can see in these photographs are gliding past you, each dramatic, rocky inlet giving way to another, just as dramatic; and all around you the intensely, astonishingly blue waters of the Sound. Catbert, in addition, was looking out for dolphins, which are sometimes seen in the Sound, although sadly we did not see any this time.
At last we arrived at the little seaside town of Picton, where the ferry slowly turned and then reversed into its berth.

Here we disembarked and collected our luggage, and then proceeded to the Avis counter to pick up our second hire car. Apart from camper vans, hire companies in New Zealand generally do not allow you to take your hired vehicle on the ferry from one island to the other. Instead, you drop your vehicle at the ferry port, cross over as foot passengers, and then collect a new car on the other side. I thought that this would be rather complicated, but it worked very smoothly, and the other benefit was that our new car, in other respects identical to the previous one, had been recently valeted, whereas the one we had left...well, enough said.

From Picton we took the scenic route east to Havelock (where we had a delicious lunch) and then to Nelson, where we stayed for four days and visited the Abel Tasman Park. The scenic route climbs up and winds along the Sound and in this photo we have stopped at a scenic lookout point at the top. Here's what I could see:

You couldn't really ask for more in life than a view like that, could you?

Home Again

2007-04-01T18:34:00.000Z

Well, here we are, home again, and with mixed feelings. It is nice to be back amongst all my own things, and no longer living out of a suitcase. An added bonus is that the lawn is not as long as I thought it would be and my lovely pink and yellow daffodils are still in flower. I wasn't really ready to leave New Zealand, though; there is still so much I would like to see that I could have stayed at least another month, and it was sad to be at the end of our holiday with Catbert and DSoK. It went so quickly!

The journey back, although long, passed quite uneventfully, and I am now experiencing the usual bewilderment at being on the other side of the world to where I was yesterday, and confusion about whether it is day or night. Mr Knitbert senior has a theory that when you travel as far and as fast as you do when you fly long-haul, your astral body can't keep up with your physical body, and the link which binds them together is stretched out very thin for a few days until your astral body catches up. It's as good an explanation of how jet lag feels as any I have heard.

Anyway, if you will all bear with me, I shall be able to relive the last week of my trip here.

First of all, just a few more pictures from our journey down the North Island. On the way we stopped to look at the Huka Falls. I imagined a nice, dramatic but scenic waterfall such as one finds in the Lake District. Instead I saw this!

These falls are at the end of the Waikato River, which is part of New Zealand's hydroelectricity generating capacity.

The rest of our journey took us about four hours, and included a yarn store where we stopped so I could buy some possum merino yarn. This combination is one I have only ever come across in New Zealand. Possum fur is very warm and soft, and as possums are a pest in New Zealnd, introduced from Australia and destroying native plants and attacking native wildlife, they are destroyed wherever possible. Sadly there are apparently 70 million possums in New Zealand today, so not likely to be eradicated any time soon. The mix of their fur with merino wool is soft, warm and light and now some of it is mine, all mine!!! Ahem.

Our last stop was at beautiful, semi-deserted Waikanae beach, which you can see in Catbert's photo at the top of the post. We played frisbee here for half an hour to stretch our legs and enjoy the peaceful sand and sea before continuing to Wellington, where we were to stay the night with some friends of Mr Knitbert's family, before taking the Wellington to Picton ferry the following morning.

North to South

2007-03-31T01:25:00.000Z

Just a short post today, as I am in Christchurch in an internet cafe, and my hour on the network will soon expire. There is still so much to write about and so many photos to show, but I guess I will complete the story back in the UK (with a permanent broadband connection!). Mr Knitbert is doing fine by the way, and thanks those who expressed concern about his ghastly experiences. He is mainly sticking to cake at the moment.

Here I am in Hokitika, at the National Kiwi Centre, where they also had yarn. This is where I got my Natural Felted Merino yarn, which is lovely and soft. I would like to make a cardigan in it, I think, there was a nice one in the last Interweave Knits which I quite fancy, if the tension is right.
I'm a little ahead of myself, though, as before we got to Hokitika, which is in the South Island, we had to drive from Rotorua, down the West Coast of the North Island, to Waikanae, where there is a beautiful beach, and then to Wellington. In the morning we had to cross the Cook Straits from Wellington in the North Island to Picton in the South. It was a beautiful day, and a lovely crossing. I took the opportunity to make some much needed progress with Mr Knitbert's socks!

The scenery in Marlborough Sound is just stunning, and as it takes about one and a half hours to traverse the Sound, there is plenty of time to look at it. There is a strict speed limit on the ferries in the Sound, they only do about 5 knots, as otherwise they might damage the wildlife and the coastline. There has been an ongoing argument between the ferry companies and the local residents about this for many years. It is beautiful though, isn't it?

In Which Mr Knitbert Has a Trying Time and We Visit a Maori Village

2007-03-29T02:54:00.000Z

I am writing this post from Franz Josef, a little village nestling at the foot of the Franz Josef Glacier. Our journey is not quite over yet, but we fly home at the weekend, so there are only a few more days to go. Catbert and DSoK are walking on the glacier today, but I have a dreadful cold and did not feel up to being on the ice, so Mr Knitbert and I took a nice walk out to the face of the glacier instead. We took some nice photos, but they are still in the camera, so I can't show them to you yet.

Poor Mr Knitbert has had a trying time these last few days! As you may remember, he is a vegetarian, in fact he has been a vegetarian since birth and until a few days ago he was able to say that he has only eaten meat once in his life, by mistake when he was about eight years old. Now he has tasted meat four times in total, and three of them were on this holiday! The first time was in Hong Kong, where he was offered a snack while I was having a manicure, which he thought was toffee, but which turned out to be pork. He spotted it straight away, luckily. Then three days ago he ordered an omelette with tomato and cheese, and it turned up with ham in it, which he bit into before realising, and then the day before yesterday he ordered vegetarian pasta at a restaurant in Hokitika and it came with bits of chorizo sausage in it! He got a free beer out of that one, though.
He is now so traumatised that I am having to cook for him for a few days while he recovers.

Where were we in our travels? Oh yes, we were heading from Auckland to Rotorua. On the way, we stopped to visit the Waitoma Glow Worm caves, recommended by Catbert's Rough Guide to New Zealand, which were well worth the detour. There are no photos, as flash photography would upset the glow worms, but all I can say is that it is a wonderful and atmospheric experience and I recommend it if you are ever in New Zealand. We also visited the Aranui Cave in the same area and here is a photograph of some of the lovely formations to be seen inside.

While in Rotorua we did two things. Well, alright, maybe three - or was that four? We walked around the Kuirau Park, which is a thermal park on the outskirts of the city. I discovered that our camera can record short videos, so I recorded one of a boiling mud pool, which I think shows it better than a static photograph.

Next, here we all are beside beautiful Lake Rotorua:
Then we decided that we would like a relaxing day, so we went to the Polynesian Spa and opted to spend the day in the Lakeside Retreat. I had a honey and manuka (the NZ name for Tea Tree) wrap and Catbert had a facial, and we all had access to four mineral pools, one at 36 degrees and the hottest at 42 degrees. Here we are after a day of this! I think we look relaxed...

In the evening we had booked a trip to the Tamaki Maori Village and Hangi. Mr Knitbert and I had been to this on our previous trip to New Zealand, and it is absolutely fabulous. You really feel as if you were an early European explorer standing outside a Maori village for the first time. When the Maori warrior comes out to issue the challenge to the visitors a shiver runs down my spine. Inside the village, by firelight, you can see traditional Maori crafts and activities, such as tattooing, which is practised here, and which is a very traditional form of body art for Maori, even today.
On the knitting front, I have very little progress to report on Mr Knitbert's socks, but I have bought some lovely Merino Possum yarn in a pale purple, and some gorgeous natural felted merino in a natural brown colour. I am embarrassed to report that my yarn purchases are now so bulky that we will have to buy another suitcase to transport them on the return journey.

The City of Sails

2007-03-25T07:11:00.000Z

Auckland is also known as the City of Sails, and is lucky enough to have a huge natural harbour. You can see the sea from almost everywhere you go in Auckland, which gives the city an open feel and provides beautiful views. During our last few days here staying with Mr Knitbert's lovely cousins, we visited as many places as we could with Catbert and DSoK. This photo was taken from the Rose Garden in Parnell, just as the sun was setting, and I must say I am rather pleased with it. It is of course the Auckland Sky Tower, which you can also see from almost everywhere you go.

We visited the Sky Tower on our last evening in Auckland. For me and Mr Knitbert it was our second visit, and I promised you earlier an amusing story about our first visit there. We went to the Sky Tower last time only a couple of days after arriving in NZ, while still jet-lagged, and went down to the basement where you buy the tickets. There you can buy a ticket to the main observation deck and, for 3 dollars more, a ticket to the highest observation deck. We had the following conversation:

K: We'll just get tickets to the main deck shall we?
Mr K: It's only 3 dollars to go to the very top, let's get the full tickets!
K: I'm not sure I want to go to the very top. I'm sure I can see whatever I want from the main deck.
Mr K: It's only 3 dollars more! Great value! Let's do it!

So we did it. In any case, you go in the lift to the main deck first, where you change lifts to go to the very top. In the lift, the floor has a glass square in it, so you can see the ground fall away and get tiny as you get higher and higher. Mr Knitbert and I looked through the glass square and saw how high we were going, and we both got really freaked out by it. We left the lift and went onto the main deck, where the glass windows are angled out for better viewing and there are more glass squares in the floor. We clung uneasily to the guide rails and sidled along the viewing benches, neither of us wanting to admit that we were completely freaked out by how high up we were.
After a while, it was time to get the next lift to the higher level. I said, "I don't really want to go any higher", and Mr K admitted that he didn't either! So we never got our 3 dollars' worth!
This time, we were rather apprehensive, but found that we were not at all bothered by the height but instead enjoyed the wonderful views. We think it must have all been caused by jet lag. We watched the sun set over Auckland and I took this photo of the city at night:

Only a few hours earlier we had been lucky enough to go sailing in the harbour and out past North Head in Devonport and along the Northshore up as far as Takapuna. From the Sky Tower we could see where we had sailed and the Auckland Harbour bridge which we had come back towards, and the Marina just by it.
During our short stay in Auckland, we also visited the wonderful Auckland Museum, where my favourite part is the ground floor, dedicated to the People of the Pacific. Here we all are in front of the museum:

As I write this post, I am actually in Nelson, on the South Island, where tomorow we are going walking in the Abel Tasman National Park. We have done so many things since we left Auckland I am several posts behind! Our next stop was Rotorua, a city in an area of geothermal activity and famous for its Maori cultural experiences. By way of a taster, here is the view from our hotel window, which looked out over the Whakerewarewa Thermal Park and the Pohutu Geyser.

Walking with Ents

2007-03-19T19:55:00.000Z

This Kauri tree is called Te Matua Ngahere, and is believed to be 2000 years old. Doesn’t he look just like Treebeard the Ent? It is hard to explain the sense of awe and respect that I felt on seeing these giant, venerable trees. The forest is called Waipoua Forest and is a sub-tropical rainforest on the west coast of the Northlands of New Zealand’s North Island.

As a Lord of the Rings fan, I think that walking through this forest felt just how I imagine that walking in Fangorn Forest felt to the hobbits. I have tried in these photos to show how dense the forest is, with one clear path winding through it, which was put in place very carefully so as not to harm the trees. Waipoua forest is a conservation area which is full of Kauri trees and where you can see the two oldest and largest Kauris still alive today.

This one is called Tane Mahuta, and is thought to be about 1500 years old.

These four Kauri trees are growing all together and are called the Four Sisters, you can see how small and insignificant I am beside them! You can read more about the forest here.

After seeing the forest, we drove on back to Auckland and stopped at the Kauri museum. Here we saw how the Kauris were processed into timber during the period when they were being felled; we saw many lovely items of furniture which had been made of Kauri wood in the past, and we also found out that there were until recently (the 1970s) two even older and larger Kauri trees in the forest. Kauri trees become hollow in the centre as they become older, and eventually the wood which is left of the trunk cannot support the canopy any more and the tree collapses. At the museum we also saw many carved and polished pieces of Kauri gum, which is a resin very similar to amber.

We reached Auckland on Friday evening and on Saturday morning Catbert and DSoK arrived safely from London, and here they are that afternoon on the Devonport to Auckland ferry. They are holding up well considering that they have only had five hours sleep!
And finally, a little knitting content. Here is my new sock bag, which I mentioned previously,

and my two socks on two circs - not, alas making very much progress!

I also visited a yarn shop in Devonport called Wild and Woolly Yarns and purchased these two skeins of Touch Yarns Kid Merino. Mr Knitbert kindly bought me and Catbert each one of these lovely hand carved wooden shawl pins.

Both Touch Yarns and an NZ company called Natural had a wide range of beautiful yarns available, which I would have loved to buy more of, but I just don't have the space to transport them home.

Today we are leaving Auckland and setting off to Rotorua, but we have spent a great few days here, and were lucky enough to go sailing in the beautiful Auckland Harbour, so my next post will show some of the lovely City of Sails which we have seen.

The Bay of Islands

2007-03-17T00:44:00.000Z

We have spent the last two days in the Bay of Islands, which lies to the North of Auckland. On the way we stopped at the Warkworth Museum and Parry Kauri park. The Kauri is a tree native to New Zealand, which lives for thousands of years and can grow to an enormous size. Kauri wood is very hard, and was at one time very sought after for masts and such like. As they take a long time to reach maturity, the Kauri forests were chopped down, a hundred or so years ago, faster than they could grow back. Today the Kauri is a protected species, so in another thousand or so years I daresay the stocks will have been replenished. We are hoping to see some very old Kauris on our way back to Auckland down the West coast, but in this park there are two Kauris which are 600 and 800 years old respectively. Here is the 800 year old one, with Mr Knitbert underneath it for scale.
We looked around the Warkworth museum shop and I found a little hand made bag with a sewing kit in matching fabric, which is just perfect for socks, all costing a princely $8, which is about £3 photo of bag. On the subject of socks, I have started another pair. These ones are the Father and Son socks from Interweave Knits Fall 06, and they are for Mr Knitbert. I am knitting the two together on two circulars, which is going quite well so far, although I did knit three sides of two socks onto one needle while we were driving along (Mr Knitbert was driving of course, dear reader!) and the thinking required to sort this out made me begin to feel sick, so I had to stop until we reached our destination. However, it is all sorted out now.

Today we visited Paihia, just up the road from where we are staying, where we caught a ferry across to the town of Russell. This was once the major trading port of New Zealand, but after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, the government and trading activities moved to Auckland, and today Russell is a charming, island paradise with wooden houses, surrounded by water of an intense blue green, and with lots of very nice restaurants and craft shops.

In Russell we visited Pampollier, a restored building originally constructed by French Catholic missionaries in order to print and bind bibles in the Maori language. We were able to see how this was done, and what hard work it must have been. The restored house has a beautiful garden and orchard.
Next we went to Waitangi, where the Treaty between the British government and the Maori people was signed. The treaty grounds have been made into a park and conservation area for the New Zealand people and visitors, and you can see the house in which the first official British Resident in New Zealand, James Busby, lived with his family.
There is also a Maori meeting house

and a fabulous Maori war canoe, which is also in the photo at the top of the blog. I took this photo last time we visited New Zealand, and today we took several more. The boathouse is right on the edge of the water and is a lofty, peaceful place with a view across the bay.
The Bay of Islands is a beautiful, sheltered harbour surrounded by sandy beaches and coves. It is still warm here and it feels like summer in the Mediterranean - in fact this part of New Zealand is at 35° S, which is a similar location to Morocco in the Northern hemisphere. It has to be one of my favourite places in the world.
Tomorrow we head back to Auckland, and I hope will be able to see the Kauri forest, in which case I shall have more Kauri facts and photos for you! Then, on Saturday, Catbert and DSoK the Intern arrive in Auckland to spend the next two weeks with us, and we are planning to head South to Rotorua and the South Island, after a couple of days looking around Auckland with them, of course.

The Path To Enlightenment

2007-03-12T23:32:00.000Z

Gidday from Auckland! We arrived yesterday morning and are staying with Mr Knitbert's cousin in her lovely house in a suburb of Auckland. We have not done anything interesting here yet, as we are resting, so this post is about what we did in our second action-packed day in Hong Kong. We set off early to see the Po Lin monastery (spelled correctly this time) and the big Buddha, which you can see above. This was constructed in 1993, both as a tourist attraction and also as a sacred place for worshippers. Mr Knitbert read all about how it was constructed, and that the thickness of the bronze on the face is only one centimetre and so on, but I am afraid I did not pay attention, as it is not made of yarn. You can read about it on Wikipedia if you would like to know more.
To get there we had to take the MTR from Causeway Bay to Lantau Island, and there we walked to the Skyrail Terminal, which is a fantastic cable car ride across the mountains to Ngong Ping, the village where the monastery and Buddha are located. In the MTR station we passed this curious attraction:

It is the wedding of Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel, who are the brand name and characters associated with some product for young girls. The display is life size and right in the middle of the concourse. Isn't Hello Kitty's dress fabulous! I couldn't decide if it was sweet or really scary - what do you think?

The Skyrail is labelled "The Path to Enlightenment", hence the title of this post. It takes about 35 minutes, and as it was still quite overcast the cable car sometimes disppeared inside a low cloud. Mr Knitbert took hundreds of photos of cable cars to show how great the ride was, of which I have selected two.

The cable car arrives at the village of Ngong Ping, which is full of shopping and cultural opportunities. We walked through without buying anything or having a massage or seeing the Monkey's Tale dancers, to the foot of the steps up to the Buddha. There are quite a lot of them, and the sun had started to come out, so we were getting a bit hot by the time we reached the top!

The Buddha is even more impressive close to: This photo is of one of the mountains, and you can see the clouds rolling over the top of the summit and cascading off it.

After walking around the exhibition halls inside the statue, we made our way down the steps towards the Po Lin monastery, which was about five minutes walk away. We had sensibly purchased snack tickets at the Buddha, which entitled us to a light vegetarian snack at the monastery (noodles with vegetables and some little pastries), and after all that step climbing we were ravenous! Here is a temple in the monastery grounds, seen from the courtyard:

Inside the temple was also beautiful, with lovely dragons, hanging lampshades in brightly coloured silk and lots of flowers in pots, but I did not think it would be very respectful to take photographs in a place of worship, so I did not.

After our snack, we returned via cable car and MTR to Hong Kong centre and the second fitting of our new clothes. Mine fitted perfectly and so I was able to take them away, while one of Mr Knitbert's jackets had to have a small adjustment and was to be delivered to the hotel the next morning. They are all fabulous, and I cannot believe how quickly they were made. I also persuaded Mr Knitbert to order two more shirts and another pair of trousers, to be sent to him in the U.K., and I think I might call them when we get home and order another jacket and skirt to be sent to me, as they are so lovely. What am I like !!!

If you are visiting Hong Kong and would like to use the same tailor, they are called Raiment Custom Clothing, and are located at 101 Hutchison House, quite close to the Central MTR station. Ask for Jacky Chan (no really!).

We were completely exhausted by this time, so we went back to our hotel for a rest and to work out how we were going to remain inside the luggage weight limit for the next leg of our journey. I swear next time I travel long haul I am going to take just a pair of jeans and two T shirts, and leave the rest of the space for purchases.

The next day we took it easy, I had a nice manicure and then we went shopping. If you don't like to shop or play golf, I am not sure what you do in your spare time in Hong Kong. The shopping malls are just amazing; miles and miles of marble flooring and hundreds of huge designer stores.

Then we had to get back to the hotel to be picked up for our transfer to the airport, and Mr Knitbert got disoriented, with only half an hour to go, and started looking up at high rise buildings and muttering to himself. In the end I had to force him, practically at knife point, into a shop to ask directions, and it turned out we were only about five minutes away from our hotel after all. Just as well!

The ongoing flight to Auckland was packed this time, whereas the same flight from London on Wednesday had been less than half full, and Mr Knitbert told me we had done a derated flex takeoff, as the aircraft was not very heavy. The flight was smooth and uneventful, and the good news is that I did quite a lot more crochet squares!

The bad news is that I only got about three hours sleep and Mr Knitbert didn't sleep at all, so he looked a bit crazed by the time we got through immigration and customs. We had an excellent night's sleep last night, though, and I awoke at a very civilised 7.30 am, so I hope we have adjusted to our new time zone.

Well, I am nearly at the end of this extremely long post. I have finished my Hedera socks at last:

And finally, here is the garden of the lovely place we are staying. The weather here has just turned rather changeable, with frequent showers, but it is still lovely and warm, and I was able to swim in the outdoor pool this morning.

I would also like to thank everyone who has left comments, it is nice to feel I am still in touch with all of you even though I am so far away. See you soon!

The Knitberts Do Hong Kong

2007-03-09T11:32:00.000Z

Well, here we are in Chater Gardens, Hong Kong, where a kind lady took this photo of us together. I must say my head is still spinning. I made the mistake of going into work on Wednesday morning, then we packed, went to Heathrow and caught our flight on Wednesday evening. As I slept through most of the flight and we are eight hours ahead of the UK here, I do not remember any of Thursday, so when I woke up this morning (that's Friday) it was difficult to work out where I was. It hardly seems possible I travelled nearly six thousand miles since Wednesday. By the way, although I slept most of the time, I did manage to crochet one granny square during the flight, I'll post a picture next time.

The one thing I was really keen to do before anything else was visit a tailor and get some clothes made, so we got directions from our hotel reception and set off on the Mass Transit Railway (MTR). Luckily, Mr Knitbert has been to Hong Kong twice before to work, so he knows his way around. We even have little cards now that work on every form of public transport, just like an Oyster card in London (only these are called Octopus). We found a suitable tailor, and I was measured for a jacket, skirt and trousers in silk shantung, while Mr Knitbert is having a suit in sinister grey cashmere and some very nice shirts. We had to come back this afternoon for the first fitting and will be going for our second fitting tomorrow afternoon. Everything looked great at the first fitting and we inadvertently ordered another jacket and pair of trousers. Oops!

I promise modelled photos later in the holiday.

To pass the time until our fitting, we decided to visit the Peak, which is the tallest mountain on Hong Kong island, and normally gives a superb view over the harbour. Unfortunately, there has been a low cloud over the city today, so we could only see mist from the top, but we did have a very interesting tram ride up the side of the mountain. It is the first time I have been on a tram which climbs at 45 degrees! All the very tall surrounding buildings look as though they are leaning at impossible angles, but actually it is the tram which is leaning at an impossible angle. The journey back down is pretty scary as you are going backwards...

This tram is one of the oldest transportation systems on the island, and has been in operation since 1880. As you stand waiting for the tram, looking up the track, you can see that buildings and roads have been built since then at successively higher levels over the tramway. The whole of Hong Kong seems to have been built up in levels like this, so that as you look up, you look further forward in time.

After the Peak, we visited Hong Kong Park, which is a rather pleasant green area in the centre, surrounded by very tall buildings. This photo is of the Tai Chi garden inside the Park.

There is an aviary in the park, which you can usually go into, but at the moment the walk-in area is closed because wild birds which have died of avian flu have been found within 3km of the park. There are posters everywhere giving advice about not touching or feeding birds, and what to do if you do accidentally touch a bird.

Mr Knitbert managed to take this quite nice photo of me by a waterfall in the Park after a few false starts. He has a terrible habit of faffing about and then taking a photo of me just as my eyes are closed or my mouth is open (usually to say "what are you doing? have you taken it yet?"). [Mr Knitbert recommends: keeping the eyes open and the mouth shut while being photographed].

After all that we were exhausted, and returned to the hotel for a rest. Tomorrow we are hoping to go to Lantau island and visit the Pau Lin monastery, although this will involve getting up quite early as we have to be back by 3 pm for our second clothes fitting. I'll be glad to get back on the aircraft for a rest!

"Memory Lane" March

2007-03-04T12:48:00.000Z

This month's photo was taken in the early nineties, on the island of Skyros, in Greece. I spent a very relaxing two weeks holiday there one summer, after a very stressful year. You could do different activities on this holiday, and there was a wide range, from physical to artistic to meditative activities to choose from. The first week, I remember that I chose to go swimming first thing in the morning,before breakfast. Now, getting up early is not really my thing, but the surroundings were so beautiful that I managed to stagger out of bed and get my swimming costume on each day in time to be at the water's edge by 6.00 am. We could dive or jump straight into the beautiful, clear water, and after half an hour's swimming I was refreshed and relaxed and ready to face the day. And ready to eat a hearty breakfast!

The second week I got up again at 6.00 am every day but this time it was to do an art workshop. The workshop leader explained that by starting so early, while we were still half asleep, we would be more in touch with our creative side. You can judge for yourselves if it was true! I made the magnificent mask you can see me holding, which I actually managed to get home safely in my suitcase. It lived on my living room wall for several years after that.

It was one of the nicest, most relaxing holidays I have ever had, and in one of the loveliest settings, too.

Speaking of holidays and lovely scenery, Mr Knitbert and I are currently packing, so the living room floor is covered with plastic bags and little piles of books, clothes and cosmetics, which I am trying to believe will presently form into fully packed and organised luggage. Here are the sock yarns I have decided to take with me. I haven't actually packed any clothes yet, or got all the knitting patterns ready, you understand.

In order to get these yarns, I have had to open the stash cupboard and take a lot of stuff out of it, which always seems to cover the entire landing, even though there is really only a tiny amount of yarn in a few bags. I tried to trap Mr Knitbert in the computer room, but unfortunately he insisted on coming to the door to see what was going on. "How much yarn have you got?!" he gasped.
To distract him, I got some colours of DK out to choose for making crochet squares. "Which colours look nice together?" I asked him.
"To make what?" he replied.

Now I ask you, dear reader, what does that matter? The colours either look nice together or they don't. Anyway, while Mr Knitbert was distracted choosing colours I was able to pack everything back into the cupboard so that when he looked again the landing was clear. Then I selected the colours I had already chosen, plus a couple of his that were not too ghastly and we were done.

I'm getting very excited about our trip now, so to finish here is a photo of Auckland taken on our last visit to New Zealand, by way of a taster. This was taken from St Helier, looking back across Auckland harbour to the city centre. The very tall building with the spike on it that you can see is the Sky Tower. There is an amusing story about Mr Knitbert's and my visit to the Sky Tower, but I will save that for another post.

Serendipity

2007-02-28T22:27:00.000Z

Well, it is February 28th, and this means two things. One is that it is time (well, that is to say the last possible time!) to make my Blogalong post for February, on this month's topic of Serendipity. When I thought about this word, what came into my mind was a memory from childhood, of a television character called Serendipity Dog. I do not remember much about Serendipity Dog except that he was a robot dog who asked questions in a mechanical voice, and after all this time I am not sure that I have not confused him somewhat with K9, Dr Who's dog. A quick search reveals some information in Wikipedia which confirms the existence of Serendipity Dog, though sadly I have not managed to find a photo of him.

The picture I have posted is of Deputy Dawg. I was only about eight or nine years old when I remember watching Serendipity Dog; I had never heard the word serendipity and did not know what it meant. I imagined that it was a kind of play on the name Deputy Dawg, another of my favourite programmes at the time. For all those years the two characters have remained associated in my mind, and if I think of serendipity, Deputy Dawg comes to mind as well!
The other thing that February 28th means is that it is time to have finished my socks for the Sock a Month challenge. Here's how they are looking:

Oops! I haven't quite made it. Oh well, they will have to be the first socks for March, instead. And finally, I received this pack of Jaeger Trinity, in a pale blue colour called Powder, yesterday.

It was on sale at Janette's Rare Yarns and one pack should be enough to make a summer weight Ivy, don't you think? Of course, I have a few things to knit before I can get started on that. Apart from a few socks, I have a sweater to design and knit for Mr Knitbert. But it is such a lovely soft yarn and a pale, summery colour, I just couldn't resist it.

Bonus Photos

2007-02-24T16:25:00.000Z

I have finally worked out how to photograph very small things, so I can post this picture of two of the beautiful stitchmarkers I bought from the very talented sprite64 on the Crafty Threads and Yarns Forum.

They are grazing on my Hedera sock for the February sock a month challenge (and I will continue to maintain that they are for February until midnight on the 28th), which you can see better in the second photo.

And finally, a photo to show that Ivy looks just as great with jeans as it does with a smart skirt. Did I mention that I'm really pleased with my Ivy? Alright, I'll shut up about it now...

Finished Ivy

2007-02-22T22:17:00.000Z

At last I have finished knitting something! All around me people have been knitting one, two or even three pairs of socks a month, Central Park Hoodies and Rogue, with lists of finished items streaming down their blog sidebars, and I've been plodding away, steadily knitting IVY and not actually finishing anything.

Now I have finished and here is the result. It is knitted in Patons Diploma Gold, colour Lupin and it has taken me about six weeks to complete. As I learned new, improved sewing up techniques last year, it has taken me three days to sew together using teeny tiny neat mattress stitch. I've got to say that it was worth it though, the seams are much flatter and neater than I achieved with my previous method.

I really like the finished sweater, it is very versatile and comfortable, and I would like to knit lots more! I'd like several in different colours, and I'd like to knit a summer one now, in a silk and cotton or alpaca mix. However, learning from experience, I am not going to try and knit another one straight away. I have an alpaca sweater for Mr Knitbert to get started on next. It is a strange feeling when I finish a large project which has taken several weeks; although I want to get to the end of the project and wear the garment, I feel strangely unsettled when the project is complete, as if something is missing! It takes me a few days to get engrossed in another project. Luckily I have a couple in waiting - my Hedera for Sock a Month 2007 (will I get them finished by the end of the month?) and a Clapotis in SWT Oasis, which I would like to get completed in time to take on my forthcoming trip. The second stop on the trip, by the way, is Auckland, New Zealand, where we are going to spend some time with Mr Knitbert's family. Yes, Mr Knitbert is a Kiwi!

A Little of What You fancy

2007-02-16T19:37:00.000Z

For Valentine's Day, Mr Knitbert bought me this beautiful Donegal Tweed from Irish Yarns and Crafts. It is a gorgeous red colour with flecks of blue and black.

I do have quite a lot of this yarn now; I already had the charcoal and the grey and brown mix, and I also got the aubergine colour from another member of the Crafty Threads and Yarns Forum.

Actually, I bought this last week, but I didn't dare tell anyone. It is also a very beautiful colour, with flecks of magenta and violet. Including some Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed, I make that five lots of aran tweed yarn I have now. I suppose I'd better consider knitting something with it! I am definitely going to knit at least one Central Park Hoodie and at least one Rogue. I'm now on the lookout for other beautiful aran patterns which might be suitable.

I am pleased to announce that I have also made good progress with some knitting this week. As you may remember, I have been working on the sleeves of my Ivy.

As I was knitting them both at the same time, progress has been a little slow, but following a final burst at the garage this afternoon while I waited for my car to take its MoT test (successfully, I am sure you will be happy to hear!), the sleeves are done, hoorah!

I thought you might like to see a couple of Barbies from my collection, so they are helping to hold the sleeves in position for the photo. The left hand Barbie is wearing a hat bought for her by Catbert in Los Angeles, which is where she spent Christmas in 2005. The right hand Barbie has hair you can cut and style, although anyone caught cutting it would be subject to severe penalties, of course. Especially if they were to use my dressmaking scissors. Let's not go there! I only have the ties and the neck border to do now and I can sew up. Just as a reminder, here is the front and back already completed (attached at the shoulders).

There were a few other purchases this week. I could no longer resist the lure of Tofutsies and bought a ball of Light Foot and a ball of Stand on your Own Two Feet from P2tog.

The yarn, which is delightfully soft, arrived with two free patterns, one called Mountain Peeks and one called Bows on Your Toes. They both look lovely, and I am looking forward to knitting them. I also ordered a copy of Interweave Knits Winter 2005 ,mainly for the Ballet Wrap Cardigan, but also for the Embossed Leaves socks and the Aran Pullover (an excellent candidate for some of my lovely aran tweed).

Ordered this week but not yet available, were some wonderful stitchmarkers, to appear in a future post.

I think it is also time to reveal that Mr Knitbert and I are going on a trip in a few weeks. Our first stop will be Hong Kong, which I have not visited before, and I am intending to publish a record of our journey on the blog as we travel. I'll keep you informed! There are still a few yarn-shopping days before we depart, and this weekend we need to buy Mr Knitbert a new suitcase, an exciting project in its own right.

Mmmmm! Delicious

2007-02-11T13:32:00.000Z

Last weekend the lovely Pictish from the Crafty Threads and Yarns Forum posted this recipe for a vegetarian casserole using a slow cooker: Chickpea and Parsnip Casserole in Red Wine. Now I don't know about you, but I do not have many vegetarian recipes for my slow cooker; I have plenty of meat-based ones, but as Mr Knitbert is vegetarian I don't often use them. This one sounded so tasty I decided to have a go at it myself this weekend, and as it has come out well I wanted to share it. And if anyone reading has a favourite vegetarian slow cooker recipe that they would like to share, I'd love to hear it. If I try it I'll publish some photos of the results, along with Mr Knitbert's Verdict, in a future post.

Pictish's recipe is more of a concept than an exact specification, so I have freely adapted it while (I hope) remaining true to the original idea. Here are all the ingredients assembled ready to start:

I had some butternut squash and celeriac left over from another recipe, so I added those, and I also replaced some of the parsnips with sweet potato. At Mr Knitbert's request I increased the amount of chickpeas, too.
I made a tomato, onion and garlic sauce using a tin of tomatoes instead of tomato puree, to which I added the chickpeas, vegetable stock and red wine:

There is a lot of chopping to do with most vegetarian recipes, so Mr Knitbert is fully trained:

Here are all the chopped vegetables in the slow cooker:

The sauce ready to be added:

And, six hours later, it was ready to eat - I added a swirl of creme fraiche as suggested by Pictish, which was yummy.

Mr Knitbert's Verdict: **** Very tasty. His recommendation - serve with mash to soak up the sauce.

While the slow cooker was doing its job, I had time to carry on knitting the sleeves of my Ivy. I have two more increases to do, then knit straight to the armholes and then shape the sleeve cap.

As you can see, I am knitting them both at the same time, which is exactly what my mother always used to do with her sleeves, but which I have never tried before. I think it is turning out quicker to knit the two together than it would have been to knit them one after the other, and there is the added advantage of having the same tension and the same row count on both sleeves. Plus, once I'm done, I'm done. No second sleeve syndrome, yay!

Following this reasoning, I am starting to think that it might be quicker and more satisfying to knit two socks on two circs. While I can manage one sock on two circs, I have never worked out how to do two. Yesterday I discovered Eric and Cat's great video podcast Let's Knit2gether. In her first episode she demonstrates how you would organise yourself to cast on and knit two socks on two circs and - well - it's easy! She also explains how to do two socks on one circ using Magic Loop.

I've got to finish my Hedera in the old, slow, one-at-a-time way, and then I'm going to do my next socks as a pair on two circs. Has anyone else tried this? How did you find it, is it really faster?

Sock a month - bah! Hundreds of socks a month more like!

Guess the Baby

2007-02-08T18:55:00.000Z

Some while ago there was a bit of a crisis in the Knitbert household. It was sparked by an event I am organising at work, for which, to add a bit of fun, we decided that the management team should all provide some baby photos. The idea was to put them on the wall and ask the attendees to guess who was which baby.

So that weekend I asked Mr Knitbert to go into the loft, where there is a box containing all the Knitbert family photos for about the last hundred years (no really) and drawings made by my Aunt Dorothy, and my grandmother Molly's notebooks, and to bring this box down. Well, Mr Knitbert searched the loft, and brought assorted boxes to show me, and I shouted instructions from the top of the ladder until I was hoarse, but the long and the short of it was that we had lost the box of photos.

Now of course I know that this cannot have happened. My brother Yugbert, who previously had custody of this box, had brought it to us a few years earlier, when he was moving house, and asked us to look after it for a while. We said no problem, and we took the box and put it in the loft. Since then there have been no untoward occurrences, no break-ins, no coming home and finding the loft hatch swinging mysteriously open, and we haven't touched the box ourselves. So it must still be in the loft! The problem seems to be that Mr Knitbert can't find it.

I daren't mention to my brother that we might not exactly know, just at this precise moment, the exact location of the box, and also I do need a baby photo for the event at work, and even more than all that I would actually like to find the box because it has Important Things in it. So this last weekend I sent Mr Knitbert up to the loft again and we tried a more structured approach. This time I just ordered him to describe things from the boxes that are in the loft, and then bring them to me. I have a suspicion that Mr Knitbert is applying too much personal judgement when looking at boxes and is dismissing candidate boxes just because, in his opinion, they don't look like The Box.

Well, we didn't find The Box yet, but we did find a box which has a lot of my photos in, including some baby photos, as you can see from the photo of me and Yugbert at the top of this post, so that was a good start. And Mr Knitbert has offered to put flooring in the loft and put up shelves so I can look for my own d___n Box in future. Isn't that sweet of him?

I received two items in the post this week which were not yarn (I blushingly confess that there were also items which are yarn), one of them was this book, which was recommended by Jacquie, and is very interesting, and one was the Spring 2007 Interweave Knits. I like a lot of the things in this magazine, and in particular I would like to knit the Ruffled Surplice, the Ribs and Lace tank, the Dollar and a Half Cardigan, the Slanted Neck Pullover, the Cable Down Raglan, the Merry Maiden's Dress for my twin cousins (they'll be the right size in about five years, luckily) and the Bauhaus Fair Isle Sweater for Mr Knitbert.

I am overwhelmed with admiration for the technical virtuosity of Eunny's entrelac socks, but I personally would not care to wear them. And let me reassure you now that there will never be any knitted items in the lingerie drawer chez Knitbert.

"Memory Lane" February

2007-02-02T19:35:00.000Z

I have decided to start a series of posts, once a month, which I shall call "Memory Lane". The idea is that each month I shall take a photo or an item which reminds me of something in the past, and tell the story which is associated with it.
This photograph was taken about ten or twelve years ago, do you recognise what is in the background? That's right, it is Niagara Falls! At this time I was living in Paris, and during my summer holidays I had met and become friends with a Canadian lady, let us call her Alice. Alice and I remained in touch after our holiday, and I nearly visited her a few months later when I came to Pittsburgh for a conference, but in the end I just did not have time. She invited me to come and stay for Christmas instead, and on impulse I accepted.

The cheapest flight was with KLM, so I had to fly first from Paris to Amsterdam, and from there to Toronto. I remember the first evening in Toronto; Alice drove me around her neighbourhood to see the Christmas lights, and what really impressed me was the snow, which was several feet deep. Actual steam was coming out of the drain covers, just like it does on the movies, but just like it doesn't in the South of England! Or in Paris, come to that. We had been invited to a friend's house for dinner, and at about 9pm I nearly fell asleep in my dessert, as it was about 3 in the morning for me, and I had to be taken back to Alice's place for some sleep.

It was a lovely Christmas, very very cold outside, and I enjoyed visiting Toronto, which seemed to me to combine the energy of the New World with that sense of the past that I am used to in Europe. I wasn't much into photography in those days, so this is the only photograph I have of the trip. Alice was very worried that I was not used to real cold and would not dress up warmly enough, so as you can see I look like Michelin woman. I think I had about four coats on and the earmuffs just complete the picture.

This trip did not take place during one of my knitting phases, so I purchased no yarn, but I did buy a delightful jacket, which I still have.

After writing this I went to my wardrobe to try the jacket on this morning. I had forgotten how nice it is! It came from a shop called Ms Emma Designs. In this shop, you chose a garment and it was then fitted to your shape by pinning. A few days later, the custom fitted garment was ready to pick up. What really pleased me is that it still fits perfectly even though it was fitted to the shape I was over ten years ago!

Alice and I stayed friends for a few years after that, but sadly have lost touch now. But I still have the warmest memories of my magical, white, Canadian Christmas.

The Yarn of the Irish

2007-01-30T18:58:00.000Z

Catbert has taken to reading my blog, which is nice. We were chatting on the phone at the weekend and she mentioned how amusing she found it that all the posts were about how I'd bought yet more yarn and still not knitted anything. Well I think that is a slight exaggeration, Catbert, actually, but I have to confess that I did order some more yarn at the weekend, and it has been arriving this week. Regular readers might recall that I have been thinking about knitting the Central Park Hoodie. I also purchased the pattern for Rogue this week. Mmmm, think I need a bit more aran yarn.
I discovered this gorgeous store on ebay, and in a few clicks of a lambs tail had purchased some Kilcarra Irish Aran Tweed in a charcoal colour

and in a grey-brown mix with lovely coloured flecks.

I think I will get at least one more lot, in another colour, it is difficult to find really nice aran yarn, and this is just gorgeous, soooo soffffft and pretttty my preciousssss, yesss.
Storage might be a problem, I may possibly have to chuck out some of Mr Knitbert's electronic stash. Personally I don't think he would notice for at least five years, he doesn't spend as much time with his stash as I do with mine!

I broke a knitting needle on Sunday and while I was waiting for it to be glued by Mr Knitbert I decided to take a break from knitting Ivy and start a sock. This is a Hedera in Angel Yarns hand dyed sock yarn. I think it's really pretty, but I have resumed Ivy now as the needle is mended, so the sock will have to wait a few weeks while I finish that.

You may notice that the clock is now showing the time in Hong Kong. What can it all mean?

UFO Spotting, er I Mean Busting

2007-01-26T12:41:00.000Z

For the last few days I have been catching up on some of the things I committed to doing this month which I have not made progress with. I signed up to the Crafty Threads and Yarns Forum UFO Buster Event. Sorry about the photo, I'm afraid it's Mr Knitbert's idea of a joke. Anyway, this morning I have had a look through my Unfinished Objects. There are only really two of them, which surprised me, but I have had a few clearouts in the last year when I got rid of or finished off some outstanding projects, it has obviously paid off. Here's the first one:

This is a crochet cushion from Erika Knight's Essential Crochet. I have finished the front, which is in a lacey pattern, and have got stuck on the two back pieces. These are in interminable double crochet. The yarn isn't really helping either, it's a very pretty nylon fibre with beads in it, which splits like anything.

The lace was fun to do, but the ghastly double crochet isn't. When I've done the backs then I have to make a cushion cover out of the red fabric to go under the crochet. I don't mind doing that bit, it won't take long. I do think it will look very pretty, and I would like to finish it now I've got this far, so I think I'm going to have to make myself get on with it. What do you think? Any ideas for remotivating me?

The second project is even easier than the first. I have this piece of fabric which Mr Knitbert brought me back from Kuwait.

It needs to have the two short ends roll-hemmed and then it will become a stole with beading on the ends. The problem is that I started doing the roll-hemming and it didn't turn out very well. It didn't roll properly.

I have done some research and I think I know what to do to make it look right, but first I have to unpick what I have already done. Which I hate doing. And also I hate the stupid roll hemming foot which is fiddly and difficult to get started. So it's been in the UFO pile for *mumble mumble alright then three years*. I think I'd like to finish it, so again I have to somehow make myself get on with it. All suggestions gratefully received!

The only other unfinished item I have right now is my Clapotis no 2, but I am doing a repeat of this at the moment every time I finish another project, so I don't think it is really at risk.

Stash Reduction? Not On My Watch!

2007-01-25T12:27:00.000Z

When I started knitting Ivy, I was pleased with myself because I was knitting it from stash, and it meant that a large pack of yarn taking up space on the cupboard floor would soon be gone. I also thought that joining Sock a Month 2007 would quickly reduce my sock yarn stash (see Yarn Disclosure ), so by now I imagined I would be well on my way to reducing the stash backlog.

Well, owing to a couple of unfortunate incidents involving ebay last week, I have now increased my stash, and I am knitting Ivy as fast as I can to make some space to put it all. First of all, I have decided to knit the Central Park Hoodie, for which I needed (no, really, dear reader, I did need it) two packs of green Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed (from Janette's Rare yarns).

Then I saw some Twister sock yarn on the Angel Yarns Forum. A quick search on ebay revealed a pack of eight in lovely colours from this seller. Ooops. Now my sock yarn stash contains enough to knit twenty six pairs of socks, which if my calculations are correct (and they've been checked by Mr Knitbert) means MORE than two socks per month. And in fact I haven't even started one sock for the month of January as I am knitting Ivy. *Hangs head in shame*.

Nice yarn though innit?
By the way, you may have noticed our nice new blog clock. Why is it showing the time in Auckland? All will be revealed...soon.

Treasure

2007-01-21T15:04:00.000Z

This post is part of a Blogalong organised by the Bloggers Paradise Forum. Each month, members of the forum post a thread on their blogs using a title which has been agreed for that month. This month's title is Treasure.

When I started to think about this topic I realised that many of my treasures are memories or keepsakes which remind me of people or events in the past. Probably something to do with my age! Anyway, I have chosen as my treasure something which links me to my paternal Grandmother, who was called Molly.

Molly died before I reached my first birthday, so I do not remember her at all, but I have a few of her things. The mirror in the photo (which I regret to say is real tortoiseshell, but I suppose those were less enlightened times) is part of a set, which includes a matching hairbrush and jewel box. I was also given an ivory hand mirror engraved with her initials. For many years I have used the tortoiseshell mirror every morning.

Anyway, that's not the treasure! I always believed that my grandmother and I had never met, but a few years ago I came across a letter among my mother's papers. It was a letter from my grandmother to my mother, written just after she had returned from visiting my mother in hospital after I was born. In the letter she mentions the visit and talks about seeing me. So we did meet, even if it was only that once, and my treasure is that letter which tells that story.

Last Train to Knitville

2007-01-20T19:14:00.000Z

This week I had to go to Paris for a meeting. The meeting was on Friday, and as it was an all day meeting I took a train the day before so as to be there on Friday morning. It said on the weather forecast that it might be quite windy, and on the way down to Ashford in the car I noticed a few gusts of wind that made me slow down and drive carefully.

The train was about forty minutes late arriving from Waterloo because of the strong winds, but I had my knitting so I wasn't bothered. Eventually the train showed up and we got in and made ourselves comfortable. It takes about 30 minutes from Ashford to get to the Tunnel and out the other side, and then a bit longer to get to the first stop at Calais. Usually the Calais stop is about two minutes, so when we hadn't moved after twenty minutes we knew something was up. After a while the train did move, but backwards, into a siding, and then Eurostar announced that we could not continue the journey because of the weather and that they were trying to organise an alternative route.

To be honest, we could not see much evidence of wind from the sheltered position we were in, apart from a few bushes blowing about. When I saw the news the next day I could see that huge trees had been blown down across the railway lines, and the storm, which extended across the whole of Northern Europe, was really very dangerous. There were people on the train who had contacts via phone with people who had access to the internet, and from this we learned that we were on the last Eurostar to leave Waterloo, the train after us had been cancelled and the whole Eurostar network had been stopped. We didn't know what would happen next, but I had lots of work to do, and it was nice and peaceful on the train, so I got on with that.

After about another half hour there was an announcement that we would be waiting in the siding for at least three more hours, at the end of which there would be a decision about whether we would go on to Paris or back to London. A lady next to me emitted what I can only describe as a wail as she heard this. When I heard her story I understood why. She had been trying to get to Paris to meet a client for a meeting in a fabulous restaurant. First she went to Heathrow and found her flight was cancelled. Then she drove like a bat out of hell to Ashford to get the Eurostar. She had just heard that her client was on the Eurostar following ours, which had been held in London, and then she found out we were stuck in a railway siding for three hours!

I finished my work, and then got out my knitting. I had my trusty iPod with me and a number of knitting podcasts to listen to, the Eurostar staff were bringing tea, coffee and water around, so I had plenty of time to knit without interruption.

After less than three hours there was another announcement, to say that they had found us another route and we were going to be setting off for Paris in a few minutes. Sure enough, the train glided away about five minutes later, and after another hour and a half we finally reached Paris, about four hours later than the schedule. I felt sorry for many of the travellers, clearly not knitters, who had nothing to do to pass the time. Some people had Sudoku, which kept them happy, although unless you staple the pages together afterwards, they do not make much of a wearable garment. The rest spent the time either on the phone to their friends complaining, or calling other transport providers, futilely trying to organise an alternative means of getting to Paris.

As an aside, I had to do that once when there was a Eurostar problem getting home, a few years ago. A few intrepid Brits and I set off from Calais to get home when Eurostar wanted to take us back to Paris until the morning. It was Friday night and we just wanted to get home. We used local trains and then took a Seacat, using the mobile phones of a few kind passengers to make Seacat bookings with our credit cards as the local train trundled for hours though the French countryside. There was a great sense of cameraderie, just like during the Blitz, I fondly imagine, although less dangerous obviously. I got home at two in the morning, and I don't regret it for a moment, but I learned from this that the Eurostar is REALLY FAST and that other forms of transport are not good substitutes.

Anyway, I got to my hotel in time to have a light meal and a reasonable night's sleep, I attended my meeting the next day, and on the way back home I bought perfume, and I did some more knitting. My Ivy is making excellent progress! Plus I got lots of work done.

I've learned one thing though. Next time I travel I'm going to carry a few spare needles and some acrylic DK. I'm going to offer to teach people, who have nothing with them to pass the time, to knit or crochet. Perhaps they'll call me the mad knitting woman of the Channel Tunnel. That would be nice.

Knitting In Public

2007-01-12T18:34:00.000Z

This last week I've been in darkest Somerset, working away from home. I took my knitting bag with me and as you can see from the photo above, I managed to get some knitting done. I knitted in the evening in the hotel bar, and during the day at work. I'd just like to clarify, by the way, that I knitted at lunch time, not when I was actually supposed to be working.

The reason I thought I would write a post about this is that I often hear people saying that they don't feel they can knit at work (in their lunch hours I mean!), and one reason which is frequently given is that they work in a profession with a high proportion of men, such as IT. My profession is relatively male-dominated, and I have knitted in my lunch hour, without any adverse reactions from colleagues, on many occasions over the last twenty years.

People do often come up to me and ask what I am knitting, and I am happy to tell them. Many people of my age or thereabouts have memories of their mothers knitting when they were children, and so it brings back pleasant memories of their childhood. A very high proportion of male colleagues as well as female have told me that they were taught to knit as children, which surprised me at first, but when I think about it, my brother learned to knit along with me when we were kids, and I taught DSOK and Catbert to knit together when they were little. One colleague even remembered his father knitting!

Now if you really feel uncomfortable about knitting in public, or in your place of work, then I think that you have to respect your own feelings, after all, you have to enjoy it, and if you are tense and nervous then it isn't going to go well! But if you are dying to whip out your latest socks on two circs in your lunch hour and you are just not sure if it will be OK, I hope this post will encourage you. This week I was leading a team of five male colleagues to complete a demanding and intensive task. At the end of the week, we had some photos of the team doing stuff which I had taken as we went along, and the guys asked if they could also take a photo of me knitting to add to them. That's where this photo comes from, and I thought that was rather nice of them. So give it a go, you might be surprised what you will learn about your fellow workers!

Incidentally, I managed to finish the back of Ivy, so I'm going to be starting the left front very soon! I'm really pleased with how it is turning out.

Yarn Disclosure!

2007-01-06T11:36:00.000Z

As you can see from the sidebar, I am signed up to "Sock a Month 2007" on the Crafty Threads 'n' Yarns forum. I haven't started yet because I am knitting Ivy, but I thought I would do some preparation. I have decided to knit Hedera and wanted to choose the yarn. Now, I haven't been keeping an eye on my sock yarn stash, I know I have bought one or two balls over the last year, but I've knitted five pairs of socks so far and if I thought about it at all I probably imagined I had about four or five balls. Well.

First of all, I realised that I had actually bought four balls in the last three weeks, what with the Tiger socks panic and the P2tog sale. Oh, well, probably still less than ten balls overall.
Next I am collecting up all my sock yarn from the stash cupboard to photograph. "What are you doing?" asked Mr Knitbert. "I'm collecting up a few balls of sock yarn to photograph for the blog," I replied. At this point I was in fact stealthily trying to creep down the stairs carrying all the yarn. I had made a cunning pyramid of yarn in my arms, and unfortunately the top of the pyramid was higher than me and was causing some difficulty in seeing where I was treading. I was carefully looking around it so as not to lose my footing, when Mr Knitbert distracted me by saying "how much have you got then?" and getting up to come and see, instead of just waiting for the blog post like everyone else. I gave a guilty start, a ball of yarn fell off the top of the pyramid, I bent down to pick it up and...well, let's just say the yarn got down the stairs quicker than I did.

So I've got enough yarn to knit 18 pairs of socks; hey, loads of people have more than that. Don't they? Mr Knitbert was a bit shocked, though.

So here's the stash:
In this picture (back to front, L to R) Opal Lollipop, Lana Grossa Cotton, Lana Grossa Magica, Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino Dream, Cygnet Wool Rich and Angel Yarns hand dyed.

Next there is Colinette Jitterbug, Bright Dyes hand-dyed Opal, Curious Yarns sock yarn, more Cygnet Wool Rich, Fyberspates sock yarn and another Lana Grossa Cotton. I'd just like to remind everyone that the Cygnet comes in 50g balls so you need two for a pair of socks. Just so there is no misunderstanding.

And finally, Sunbeam St Ives 4 ply, Opal Rainforest Tiger, one skein and two balls of Angel Yarns hand dyed, and another ball of Lana Grossa Cotton.

I rather like having a sock yarn stash, there is some possibility I might actually knit it all one day. Anyway, the one I'm going to use for the first 2007 sock is the Angel Yarns hand-dyed one which is shown in close-up at the beginning of this post.

Before I close, it came recently to my attention that 31 people had viewed Mr Knitbert's profile only to be disapointed because there was nothing there to see. I think this is rather unprofessional, so Mr Knitbert is currently locked in the computer room writing his profile. Please accept the Knitbert Principle's apologies if you were one of these 31 people. I've also noted that he hasn't actually posted anything yet, although he did mutter something about posting his New Year Resolutions, which would be about doing less DIY, no walking or cycling at all and resting more.

Looking Forward and Looking Back

2007-01-03T12:30:00.000Z

I don't typically make New Year's resolutions, but I do like to look back over the past year and think about what went well, what I would like to change, and what objectives I might have for the coming year.

What Went Well
1. I changed my job, to reduce the amount I travel, work closer to home and have more time. I've really enjoyed being at home more, and being able to cycle to work sometimes.

2. I took up knitting again, partly because of the first change, as it is an activity which I can do in my lunch hour and easily pick up and put down at home. Boy, has this had an impact on my life last year! I used to do dressmaking, and this needs special equipment and much larger time slots. Originally I thought that I would fill in additional spare time with knitting, but in reality I just knit all the time now, and as a result I have (ahem)a few sewing UFOs. Last year I joined knitting forums, made lots of new friends who also like to knit, learned new techniques and improved old ones, discovered yarns, patterns, tools and resources I had never had any idea existed. Wow!

3. Also as a result of the first change I have been able to exercise more regularly and eat more healthily (as I have not been staying in hotels half the time).

So the lifestyle change has been successful and had a lot of beneficial effects. If I decide to change my job in the future I think it will be important to take these other aspects into account.

What I would Like to Change in 2007
1. Well, I'd like to give a little more attention to some projects in the house and garden this year, I think. There are some small changes and improvements to make in the garden which we have not got around to in the last few years, and there are a couple of rooms in the house I would like to decorate, or do some maintenance in.

2. I'd also like to have a bit of a clear out in DSOK's and Catbert's rooms, as they don't really live here any more, their rooms are just being used for storage. A lot of what is being stored is just rubbish, or could be stored more efficiently. DSOK has one of those beds on stilts, and I'd really like to store that or give it to him, and redo the room as an office.

3. I'd like to do more walking and cycling with Mr Knitbert, especially in the warmer weather. I know that Mr Knitbert, who reads this blog, will be turning pale with horror as he reads this, but I assure you it WILL BE FUN.

So there isn't really anything very fundamental I would like to change, and that makes sense because my job change last year was quite a significant change which I had been trying to bring about for a while.

Objectives for 2007
1. Knit some more lace, knit some nice, wearable garments which fit well (for me and others), and knit loads and loads of socks (12 pairs to be precise! See sidebar and more of this in a future post). Try to do some sewing as well as some knitting.

2. Review ways to improve work/life balance even further and consider if any changes might need to be made.

3. Relax, enjoy life, make the most of time with the family, stop worrying so much about achieving objectives!

Back In The Jug Agane...

2007-01-02T16:47:00.000Z

...in the immortal words of Nigel Molesworth, the goriller of 3B.

Returning to everyday life after the Christmas and New Year break is always painful, I can't remember what I was doing, what the plan was, what on earth was happening or why it all seemed so important. I didn't even have a single meeting in my diary today, and a significant number of people have not returned yet from Planet Christmas. Those of us who were here sat quietly staring at our LCD screens trying not to attract attention. I've eaten a normal packed lunch, which seems like starvation rations compared to what I have been subsisting on, and I had to get up while it was still dark. Snivel. Tomorrow I'm going back to the gym. Snivel, snivel.

During the day I have managed to acquire two new meetings for the rest of the week and a list of key points for Q1 2007. So tomorrow I may feel more like I know what I am supposed to be doing.

I managed to finish the tiger socks on New Year's Eve, here modelled by their proud owner.

and yesterday I cast on for Ivy. Here's how far I have got.

I am using Patons Diploma Gold DK in Lupin colourway. It doesn't seem to be a very complicated knit, and the twisted rib pattern is rather pretty. The most difficult part of Ivy seems to be the simultaneous decreases and increases on the fronts, however I have worked through the pattern and extracted information, which I shall put into a spreadsheet, so that I can easily see what I have to do for each row.

I'm looking forward to making progress on this, it will be the first fitted garment I have knitted for six or seven years. It is also a much better written pattern than I have used in the past, and I am confident I have improved my finishing skills (my mother never told me much about blocking other than that it was a waste of time), so all in all I'm quite excited about how it will turn out.

Bits and Pieces

2006-12-30T14:18:00.000Z

After the excitement of Christmas we have had a very quiet week chez Knitbert. On Wednesday evening we were invited to join friends of mine from university, and their families, for the evening. It was lovely to catch up with everyone again, I only see these friends once a year at most, but somehow we seem to just drop back into a conversation which we have been carrying on now for thirty years or so.

Since then we have been eating simple, plain food, drinking a lot of water and I have been getting on with DSOK's second sock, which is now on the last four inches of the foot, hooray! I have also realised that I used one ball of sock yarn to make the socks, obtained a second in case I didn't have enough and also ordered an additional ball of Opal Lollipop, so I have used one ball of sock yarn and gained two more aaaaargh! That wasn't smart.

This afternoon it is grey and wet outside, indoors it seems to be Stargate Atlantis day, which is good for knitting to, and so I am knitting, DH is reading, Catbert is asleep on the sofa and DSOK is asleep upstairs. They have both just returned from a trip to visit their old schoolfriends, so after scoffing any food they could find in the kitchen they have collapsed. As they will be off tomorrow to celebrate the New Year with yet more dietary excess I suppose they need to recharge their batteries a bit.

I remembered that I have not yet published the third video in the gripping "Mitten Snippin'" series, so this seems like a good time to do so.

In this episode I knit around the thumb stitches, create the thumb and then fasten off.

And finally, I have been tagged (again!) by Bronte. After some thought I think I should try to list six more weird things about me, even though I'm NOT AT ALL WEIRD, so here goes:

1. I actually like to speak in public, for example to give presentations.
2. It isn't just Star Trek Voyager I like, I'm actually a bit of a science fiction nut, and I do think that sci fi is the best TV to knit to
3. After agonising about the decision for twenty years I finally got my nose pierced when I was 40, inspired because my daughter had hers done (at the age of 16) and I thought "if she can I can"
4. I learned to ski at 37 and to sail at 40, both sports terrified me at first! So it's never too late
5. My favourite cake is the Galette des Rois which you can get in France in January, if I have a meeting in France in that month I always ask my colleagues to get one for me (and this year I have....)
6. I really do enjoy cleaning...

In the first few days of the New Year I have signed up to a UFO Buster on the Crafty Threads and Yarns forum, so I'll be publishing some pictures of my UFOs, both knitting and sewing, and maybe asking for some advice on what to do about them. I'm also going to be starting an Ivy knitalong and a sockamonth challenge. Phew! I need a rest already.

A Family Affair

2006-12-25T17:48:00.000Z

Probably the best part of Christmas for me is now, when the dinner is served and eaten, the presents are unwrapped and received and everyone falls asleep in the quiet of the afternoon. My responsibility is to get Christmas dinner on the table and once that is achieved I can relax.

I have hardly stopped since Friday. I drove for two hours in the fog to fetch Catbert home for Christmas, then another two hours in the fog and darkness to get us back. What are those motorway signs saying "Fog" all about, by the way? I can see there's fog, I don't need a flashing sign to tell me! Does the Highways Agency imagine that drivers are slapping their foreheads when they see this singularly unhelpful sign and crying, "oh, fog! So that's what it is. That's why I can't see anything more than five yards in front of me. What a relief. I'm glad someone told me what was going on".

I spent all day Saturday and Sunday cooking and wrapping presents with Catbert's and DSOK's help, as we had 12 family members coming around on Christmas Eve.

Catbert was amused that the idea I had of a buffet being easier and less effort to prepare than a sit down meal had resulted in two people cooking continuously for a day! It was well worth it though, as we had all the generations of the family represented from seventy years old down to 20 months, which doesn't happen often.
Today we have had a lovely, peaceful day, Christmas Dinner for four was easier to prepare than a buffet for twelve!

DSOK stayed up till 3.00 am to get Catbert's scarf finished, and doesn't it look gorgeous!
I'm afraid I didn't stay up till 3.00 am to finish the socks, and I have had much less time to knit than I expected. DSOK loves his sock anyway, here he is asleep on the sofa after dinner, and I'm knitting as fast as I can to get the second one done! Me feel guilty? Never!Ooh, and I forgot to mention that I got a Vogue Stitchionary, Marianne Kinzel's Lace Knitting part 1 and a pair of Lantern Moon needles amongst my gifts, so I have been lucky.

A happy, peaceful Christmas to you all.

Christmas Packages Arrive

2006-12-19T18:20:00.000Z

All week parcels have been arriving, most of them for other people. Today my needle case from Ehwa Apron was delivered, isn't it beautiful? It looks like I need to buy some more needles though! It is a 35 slot holder which takes straight needles, dpns, crochet hooks and circular needles.
I have also been getting on well with my Tiger sock, maybe too well! as when I looked at the ball of yarn I thought I might be using more than half on the first sock. I weighed the remaining ball, and this tended to confirm my suspicion. I am using 2mm needles and I think this has probably resulted in my needing more yarn than usual. As Opal Tiger is discontinued and hard to come by I was a little worried, but I was lucky and found a seller on ebay who had a ball available. I'm not sure if it will reach me before Christmas, but then I am not sure if I will get to the end of the second sock before Christmas either! While I was searching I also came across a lovely ball of Opal Lollipop in lilac, which I recently saw knitted into a bag on the Crafty Threads and Yarns Forum and that fell into my basket too. Well, it is discontinued. Best not to miss the opportunity...

Yesterday DSOK had to get up at 6.00 am to catch his train,as he had to do important student things. I happened to pass by his room later, and noticed a large, dark thing lying on the floor by the bed. I went in to investigate. "Oh yes," said Mr Knitbert, noticing where I was going. "He did say he was leaving some things he didn't need right now." The dark thing on the carpet was in fact a rucksack - an enormous, empty rucksack of the kind that you hitchhike around Europe with. In fact it looked a lot as though someone had been doing that quite recently. Next to it was a sleeping bag, admittedly neatly stowed , and under it, dear reader, UNDER it was....
a pile of dirty laundry.

Retrospective

2006-12-17T14:28:00.000Z

As I am sending out the Christmas cards this weekend, I have put up a slideshow with some photos of us during 2006, for friends and family (and other readers of course) to have a look at.

Exciting news this afternoon - Mr Knitbert has completed a DIY project in the garden! He has replaced a down pipe on the garage, which was damaged when we had some building work done. And a very nice neat job he has made of it too. It has only taken him four years to get around to it.

It also appears that I have been "tagged" by another blogger (thanks Terri!), which means that I get to list six weird things about me. I should then pick six other bloggers to "tag", but as I am a very new blogger and don't know any others who haven't already been selected, I thought I would just do my own list of six and leave it at that.

Actually, I'm not at all weird, so I have been scratching my head a bit over this, but here goes:

1. I collect Barbie dolls (but I have probably the smallest collection in the world, consisting of precisely 5 dolls)

2. I speak fluent French

3. I wish there was a TV channel dedicated to "Star Trek - Voyager", I like to watch it while I knit

4. I can "carry a colour" - that is to say I can see a colour and remember it visually well enough to match it later

5. I love decorating (the painting a room type), I find it really relaxing to listen to music and watch the transformation of a space by applying colour to the walls.

6. When I was very little, my parents took me to the sea side for my first holiday and I refused to get off the beach mat and walk on the sand because I was afraid of the worm casts - I hated the way they felt on my feet.

An Unexpected Visitor

2006-12-16T09:31:00.000Z

Yesterday evening I had an unexpected phone call from DSOK the intern. "I thought I'd crash at your place, if that's OK," he said. I said it was OK. "Erm, am I still on the car insurance?" he asked, nonchalantly. "You might be, " I said, equally nonchalantly.
"Oh, well, I'm going to this tournament, and I just wondered if I could borrow the car?" he confessed. "OK," I said.
"Great! I'll be there at about 8.00pm, any chance of a lift from the station?"
"No," I said, "none at all. You can walk, it'll do you good".
It's only a 30 minute walk from the station, by the way, in case you are appalled at my harsh treatment.
"OK," he said,"what's for dinner?"

And there you have it, life with the modern student.

Anyway, after dinner we were chatting of Christmas presents and DSOK got out the scarf he is knitting for his sister. I thought you might like to see this picture of him knitting it. The scarf is in Sirdar Foxy fur knitted together with a strand of black DK acrylic, following a suggestion from one of the Angel Yarns Forum members. It has worked really well, the scarf is very soft and fluffy and has a nice firm feel to it.

He's a bit short of time to get it finished though!

Mitten Snippin' Too

2006-12-12T13:18:00.000Z

For those of you who are sick of the sight of the mittens now, here is a picture of DSOK's Tiger socks, which I am knitting as fast as I can on my new, shiny, teeny tiny 2mm addi turbos. Aren't they sweet? The addi turbos I mean. I'm just about to start the heel flap, so I'll probably get them finished in time. If I knit nothing else for the next 10 days.

And for anyone who would like to see what happened next, here is part two of the mitten saga. In this part I complete unpicking the cut ends and pick up 15 stitches which I then put onto 3 needles and knit around to begin the thumb. Probably you all know how to do this but Mr Knitbert and I spent all Sunday afternoon filming and then cutting and then formatting and I am publishing every. single. video. Don't forget there is still a part three to come!

We are getting close to Christmas now, and time is running out for preparations. Last weekend I either bought or ordered online all remaining presents. The online orders are starting to arrive this week, yippee! I love getting parcels. I should perhaps confess that a needle case from Ehwa Aprons did fall into my basket and is also expected imminently. Hey, it's just a present from me to me...

One of the things I bought on Saturday was for my niece. When I got it home I checked the size that her mother had said I should get (I probably should have done that before going shopping - Mr Knitbert certainly thinks so)and unfortunately I was one size off. So that's got to go back and be exchanged this Saturday (sigh).

I have been helped with getting into the advent spirit by the highly enjoyable Hunk a Day Advent Calendar on the Crafty Threads and Yarns Forum.

This weekend I have got to write all my Christmas cards, I've been putting it off, but this is it, we've run out of time, they've got to be done. The labels and a sheet of photographs are printed out, boxes of cards are ready and waiting. I'm going to set up a production line. I have to do the actual writing, because otherwise Mr Knitbert says "what shall I write in this one, then?" for every single card, so he has to be relegated to putting cards in envelopes and sticking on labels or we'd never be finished.

I also just received a call from Catbert to say that Mr Knitbert sent her and DSOK three emails about his Amazon wishlist.
The first email said "this is the email to use to find my wishlist". The second email said " actually I can't remember if I had an account with that email so I've created a new one with this email, use that one to find my wishlist". The third email said " even I can't find my wishlist using this email address, so here's a link to it". Only unfortunately the link is designed for the logged in person to see their own wishlist, so it still doesn't work. Doh!

Mitten Snippin' Good

2006-12-10T17:35:00.000Z

Today I finished the second of the Elizabeth Zimmerman mitred mittens. With Mr Knitbert's assistance I have made a video of me snipping the knitting, picking up stitches and then knitting the thumb, which is in three parts. You can view the first part here:
. The actual snipping is in this part! I'll post the second and third parts over the next few days. I couldn't believe how long it takes for a video to upload compared to a photograph.

I'm very happy with them and now I am casting on a pair of socks for DSOK the intern, in the possibly vain hope that I will have enough time to finish them before Christmas. DSOK's term finished this weekend and he went off to some sports tournament or other, so I've had to guess what size his feet are as he is not answering his phone. By an amazing stroke of luck, however, there were a pair of ghastly worn out trainers of his in the pile of stuff that he doesn't want any more but doesn't want us to throw away either, which is cluttering up a corner of my garage at the moment, and I was able to use these to determine his current shoe size.

A Cathedral City

2006-12-09T09:41:00.000Z

I spent last week in Wells, in Somerset, in the South West of England. This photo is of the view from my hotel window, of St Cuthbert's Church.

I know it sounds from the last few posts like I spend all my time travelling around, visiting great places, but actually this time I was working. We worked quite hard, too, starting at 8.00 a.m. and usually finishing around 7.00 p.m., so there was not much time for sightseeing or taking photos, which is a shame because Wells is a lovely little place, the smallest city in England and entitled to call itself a city because of its cathedral, which you can see more about here. I was staying in the Swan Hotel, which is just up the road from the market place and the entrance to the Bishop's Palace.

The Swan is a historic building, and my room this time was in the older part of the hotel, and it looked a little like this

only smaller.

When I am working away from home with such long hours the only time when I can exercise is first thing in the morning, so if the location permits I get up and go for a run before breakfast. In Wells it is possible to run around the Bishops Palace moat and grounds, and I was lucky enough to have a colleague who wanted to run with me, so at 6.00 am each morning we met at reception and set off. The weather was very blustery during my stay, but we were lucky and did not have to run in the rain.

The last time I was working and staying here was in June, when 6.00 a.m. is well after sunrise and we were able to run out through the fields around the city, but at this time of year it is too dark, so we just did circuits of the Palace grounds.
This photo shows the wall along the side of the moat, we ran along the path the other side of the wall.

The circuit finishes here, at Browns Gate which leads back to the road the hotel is in. It's certainly a very picturesque place to run in!

I shall be back here again in early January, let's hope for some crisp, cold, clear skies!

A little help with tension

2006-12-03T18:41:00.000Z

Do you suffer from tension problems while knitting?
I used to. My problem was that I never bothered to find out what my tension was. I just didn't want to waste time knitting stupid squares when I could have been getting right on knitting my mis-shapen outsize garment. That's what my mother taught me, anyway.

You'll be surprised to learn that I had quite a lot of bad experiences that way. Most garments I tried to knit came out much larger than the pattern suggested, because my tension is usually quite loose. And I mean really quite a lot. Six inches or so around a chest was not uncommon.

Some of you may have noticed a new item in the sidebar entitled "Needle Size Calculator". This marvellous little widget was created for me by Mr Knitbert, probably when he should have been putting up shelves or mowing the lawn, but I was so pleased with it I didn't mind.

When I began to read US authors on knitting, and read the term gauge, this made much more sense to me than tension, and also my mother had never given me any advice about gauge. I understand the gauge as being the density of my knitted fabric in terms of stitches, which of course is affected by my tension.

Wow, I thought, maybe this is a really important attribute of the knitted fabric, which I really need to know about if I want to be successful with my knitting. I decided that I would begin knitting tension swatches for garments where final size is important, and for new yarn or techniques which I hadn't tried before.

Hmmm, how does this work then? I knit a square with the recommended needles, measure the stitch density, if it's wrong, knit another square with different needles, repeat until square measures correct gauge or all hair is torn out.

Mr Knitbert's clever widget means that you only have to knit ONE SQUARE. I knit the swatch on the recommended needles. If you click on the button under the "Needle Size Calculator" heading you will see that there are some boxes to fill in. You put the size your swatch should have been for the number of stitches you have cast on, the actual measured width of the swatch for that number of stitches, and the size of needles used.

The widget then calculates the size of needles to use to get gauge. You might have to round up or down to the nearest real needle size, as the widget is very literal. I have had excellent results with this approach and I thought others might like to try it.

Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for improving it I'll be sure and pass them on to Mr Knitbert. He's got quite a few DIY projects to do in the New Year so he'll probably be in the mood for doing some displacement activities.

In Which Some Weekend Knitting is Displayed

2006-11-30T12:37:00.000Z

As promised yesterday, here are some of the items which I made progress on when not walking. First of all, my SWT Oasis Clapotis, hasn't it grown? Well, I've finished the sixth repeat anyway.
Then the second pair of Knucks I have made, these ones for me, in Jamieson's Shetland DK. They are lovely and cosy!
I also knitted this Tychus hat, using some yarn called Katia that I bought in Mallorca this summer and some left-over Schoeller and Stahl Limbo Color DK sock yarn. It is a surprise extra Christmas present for Ratbert, and I thought I was safe in knitting it while she was there as she always complains she can't see anything nowadays and she knows nothing about knitting, but no, the moment I got it out, "isn't that the rest of my sock yarn? What are you making with it?" Never ask questions about stuff this close to Christmas, Ratbert!
Finally, this odd shaped thing is in fact an Elizabeth Zimmerman mitred mitten in progress. It is also in the Katia yarn, which is rather soft and pretty, and it's for my daughter Catbert. It is loads of fun to knit, is progressing fast and I have still got the fun of snipping the stitches to make the thumb to look forward to. *Gulp*
It really is amazing what you can get done when you have no distractions!

The Road Goes Ever On

2006-11-29T12:39:00.000Z

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

J.R.R. Tolkien

This last weekend I spent walking in the Lake District with my friend Ratbert. She and I were at school together, travelled around Europe together when we were students, had children at almost the same time and are now turning into grumpy old women together.

We stayed in a cottage in the South Lakes, which had a lovely view of Wansfell Pike from its windows.
It was lovely to wake up and eat our breakfast looking out at that view. Although we have climbed Wansfell many times, the weather this weekend was wet and windy and not suitable for climbing the higher fells, so we walked at a lower level.

The first walk started out bright and sunny, and we reached the tarn at the summit and had our sandwiches with no more than a few spots of rain. We could see the weather racing towards us though, so we struggled into our waterproofs and started the descent. We were only a few yards down the path when the squall arrived, with driving rain, stinging hail and a strong wind which swept the waterproof cover off my rucsac and made me think I was going to be strangled by the map case. We were not very high, only about 300m, and the path we were on was not very exposed, but in those few minutes it was easy to see how you could end up in trouble in these conditions if you were higher up where it is colder and more exposed, and the visibility drops to almost nothing.

A few moments later the squall had passed and we were already lower down among the trees with more shelter. But look at the state of poor Ratbert! not that I looked any better.
As we made our way down to the village and tea and cakes, I passed a bush with bright red berries and raindrops sparking among them which I just had to try and capture on film.

The next day was much calmer and brighter. We walked through the woods to Tarn Hows, which I had never visited before in twenty years of holidaying in the Lake District, despite its being one of the most noted beauty spots in the National Park, where we had lunch. The sun was shining and we sat on a rock by the lake. "This is the life", I thought.

After walking around the tarn we continued on through woods and fields to Coniston. On the way we passed a farm, in front of which were lots of sheep in a large pen. We stopped to look at them and Ratbert took a photo of them all looking at us.

We were wondering why the sheep were there, as it was the wrong time of the year for shearing and dipping, when I noticed some other sheep with horns in a separate part of the pen. Yes, dear reader, you have guessed it; the other sheep were in fact rams. Some of the rams had struck up a conversation with some of the ewes, the shameless hussies, but probably just as well, as I do believe those innocent ewes were there to be serviced, if you catch my drift.
As I was imagining I heard the rams leering and saying "Hello m'dear" to the ewes, a landrover drew up behind us, and two chaps looking like farmers jumped out. "Hello m'dears" they said on seeing us. "Meh!" we replied, and departed at a run up the footpath and back into the woods.

While I was away I not only walked but also, not having access to the internet to waste away my evenings, did quite a lot of knitting. I finished my own personal Knucks, knitted a hat out of the left overs of some sock wool and made great progress on my Clapotis. I also spent some time writing out the increases and decreases in rows on the front of Ivy. It doesn't seem as scary as I thought, so as soon as I have finished just a few more things I think I'll be ready to cast on. Photos of all that tomorrow, gentle reader.

A Little Experiment

2006-11-21T13:03:00.000Z

At the weekend I saw a slideshow that someone had created of their work over the last year. It looked so great I thought I would try one myself. This one shows a few projects I have completed this year. I must say there are not as many as all that! What have I spent my time doing? If this works I will make a slideshow of some of our family photos, to show what we have been doing over the year.

To see details of the projects just hover your mouse over the picture.
Isn't that fab! I will get Mr Knitbert to publish one of all the aircraft he photographed at the Farnborough Airshow - bet you can't wait.

Projects In Waiting

2006-11-18T19:01:00.000Z

Yesterday I got some yarn in the post from Knitwell, some Patons Diploma Gold in Lupin to knit Ivy. Then today I went to the Angel Yarns Open Day and I bought the pattern for the Bergere de France cable sweater and then I thought I would just look at the yarn for it, Berlaine, and they had this lovely red colour called Griotte and...
I'm not going to be starting any of these projects until I have finished my Clapotis and a few more gloves, mitts and socks for Christmas, but I'm looking forward to getting started after that.

The Graduate

2006-11-17T16:14:00.000Z

This summer my daughter graduated from university. We all went for the day, and a beautiful day it was too, nicely hot and sunny with a clear blue sky but not too humid. When we arrived Catbert was just getting dressed in the regulation outfit for wearing under her gown and having the hood pinned into place. As she had to have her arms covered she was wearing a shirt over her skirt, and with all that under a black gown she seemed a little warm.

She looked lovely though, I hope you will agree, and we all went off to have our photos taken in the lovely college garden.

Soon it was time for the graduands to process to the Senate House to be awarded their degrees. We waited with all the other parents as the graduands formed into a crocodile and set off, still of course wearing their heavy clothes in the now blistering heat, for a good 30 minute walk.

After a decent interval the parents followed. There were parents dressed in traditional costume from many countries, including a Japanese family all beautifully dressed in ceremonial kimonos, which gave an exotic international flavour to the proceedings.

Arriving at the Senate house, we were shown upstairs to sit on rather uncomfortable benches from which we could look down upon the ceremony.
Fierce ushers in traditional uniforms menaced people who defied the clearly visible signs saying "no photography" and "no cameras". The ceremony and the institution are over 700 years old so they were not about to have some Johnny-come-latelies with a bit of fancy technology interfering with the way things were done. We hastily put our camera back in its case and settled down to read the programme. The building is not air conditioned and so all the huge sash windows were open to allow some air to circulate. This was pretty much as effective as a fan oven.
The ceremony itself is interminably dull and in any case conducted entirely in Latin. The high spot is of course seeing your own offspring stepping forward and then kneeling to receive their degree.
I thought how strange it was that 28 years ago I had been standing in that very same spot, waiting for my turn to step forward, while my mother watched from the benches in the gallery above. I remember standing in rows waiting for my turn to step forward, and being afraid I would forget what to do.

Suddenly it was all over and we were able to file out of the building and onto the lawn to meet the newly created BAs.

After chatting to Catbert and all her friends it was time to walk back to the garden for a lovely garden party!

Here we managed to secure a table for the six of us in the shade, and there we relaxed and spent a delightful afternoon, feasting on the delicious buffet, listening to a jazz quartet and talking of this and that.
We did not leave until the quartet had packed up their instruments, the buffet had been dismantled and packed away and the sun had started to cast long shadows across the lawn. What a lovely, unforgettable day.

First Past The Post

2006-11-15T20:04:00.000Z

It seems fitting that my first post should be about a knitting project. I have knitted since I was about four years old, although I am not sure that it was actually my random manipulations of the pointy sticks that caused the knitting to grow, I think my mother may have helped.

I have knitted on and off, more or less, ever since, but for the last ten years I think we could safely say less. Last November a new friend persuaded me to go to a crochet course with her, and as a result I have taken up knitting again. I know, it's not entirely logical. I have done some crochet too.

I have discovered the wonderful new world of yarns and designs which has come into existence and so a lot of my spare time is spent knitting or thinking about knitting at the moment. I think it will be a while before I have exhausted all the possibilities!

Anyway, enough of this rambling, what I wanted to show you is my current Clapotis. It is in South West Trading Oasis, Chocolate colourway. It's been OTN for a while and was at the bottom of the knitting bag, but I have picked it up again and it is growing fast.