I'm still here..............

............. just haven't got round to blogging lately. No excuses, just haven't done it. I have, however, done this:

Tubey from Knitty.com, started January 2nd (I think), finished January 22nd. No stripes and knitted in some soft cheap acrylic yarn chosen by Lucy. She is very pleased with the end result and has hardly taken it off since the last yarn-end was woven in.
If I were to knit this again, I think I would shape the neckline where the fabric goes round the back of the neck as there is a tendency to bunch up and make the back of the sweater hang lower than the front. I used a few short rows to try and overcome this, but neckline shaping would make for a better fit, IMHO. Rather predictably, Lucy did not like this picture (hence the missing face) as she said it makes her look fat. All I can say is, if that's fat, I want to be fat!

Two other projects have also come to a conclusion, but as they are both birthday presents, the pictures will have to wait. I am now knitting a corkscrew scarf from Loop-d-loop whilst I try to figure out the best way to proceed with the unreadable chart for the Sailmaker top. I came across Loop-d-loop in Waterstone's the other day (they had some quite interesting knitting books in there this time) and decided to buy it as I thought the patterns were rather unusual and might appeal to the girls. Bethany looked through it and liked one pattern (can't remember which one, now - well it was over 24 hours ago) but Lucy hasn't even looked yet. I like the wonky fair-isle, the ballet t-shirt and the diagonal-rib cardi but they won't be knitted for quite a while yet as the "to do" list is growing ever longer, in fact , it is becoming the FCOK* list

Before I forget, many thanks to those who left nice comments about the aran chair cover - I'm never sure whether to reply via the commenter's own blog, or to their e-mail or to add a comment to my own blog; in my laziness confusion, the replies (I'm ashamed to say) get overlooked. Knitty Fred, if you read this, please leave a comment or e-mail me, it would be really nice to meet up when you come to Brighton.

*Fat Chance Of Knitting

Still knitting..............

............... I know it's hard to believe, given the scarcity of posts recently, but I am, in fact, still knitting.
On the needles at the moment is Tubey for Lucy which is about two-thirds complete, the Artworks Sailmaker top for me which is about 6 inches up the first piece and a secret project which has barely got beyond the casting-on. The progress on the Sailmaker top is proving to be very slow, mainly due to the fact that the chart is virtually impossible to read, being both badly printed (I think it's been copied from a poor dot-matrix print-out) and a very small scale. It has obviously been printed that size to make sure that the pattern fits onto an A4 size leaflet which, in turn, fits into a pocket on the bag that the kit comes in. Personally, I would prefer a decent size chart and no bag rather than the titchy little chart and a bag that advertises the company without paying me for the privilege! (What's wrong with the old carrier bags that I normally use for transporting my knitting, anyway?).
The secret project is destined to be a birthday present for a member of my family whose birthday is before the beginning of March. Before you say "Stop! That's too many clues - the person in question will easily guess who they are!", there are five people who come into that category ( six if you count the ex-husband, seven if you count his niece, nine if you count two of my cousin's children!) so I don't think I've let the cat out of the bag. I don't know whether the project in question will be finished in time (skinny yarn, small needles, lots of stitches) but it will be done eventually. I hope to be able to post pictures of the finished item with its recipient in due course. I love teasing people about presents - I make up terrible lies about what I've got for the girls at Christmas and take great delight in disguising presents to look like something really mundane. I think I must get it from my mum - when I was eight, the only thing I really wanted for Christmas was a heart-shaped gold signet ring, complete with an engraved "A". By the time I opened my last present I was feeling quite disillusioned that all my begging and pleading had been in vain and was sulking when mum gave me a large flat box which she had "almost forgotten". (What a horrible ungrateful child I was). When I finally managed to prise off multiple layers of sellotape and large ribbon bows from what I thought was another box of crayons I was over the moon - inside the flat box was a little heart-shaped satin box containing the most perfect signet ring I had ever seen, far in excess of my expectations and a perfect fit as well. That was 35 years ago but it still fits:

and it is still a very precious treasure. (Sorry 'bout the fuzzy pic, it's hard to take photos with your left hand - unless you're left-handed, of course).
OK that's it for today - more knitting and less rambling next time, I promise.

Pictures

As promised, the aran chair cover in all its glory:


I'm so relieved to have finished this as it has been a WIP since last January and I was really sick of the sight of it. I think it was worth the slog though.
Before we took the Christmas decorations down, I had to take a snap of Fat Fairy

She has been a fixture on our tree for the past ten years and every time I suggest that we get something a little more glamorous or less home-spun, I am shouted down vehemently. She was knitted from a Jean Greenhowe pattern in some cheapy acrylic and is actually quite heavy - the top of the tree tends to droop as soon as she takes up residence so some tricky manoeuvring is required.
We had a lovely Christmas with my parents in Leicester - no snow on the day, but we did get enough on Tuesday for the girls to have a snowball fight in the garden; there is video evidence of this fight and the teeny weeny snowman made by Bethany:



Aaaaaawwww! how sweet!

My knitting resolutions for 2006 are:

• to try and have no more than 3 WIPs at a time
• to try more multi-colour knitting (intarsia or fair-isle, I'm not bothered which)
• to knit something for OH and possibly my brother, who has not had anything hand-knitted for him since he was about 10
• to be more adventurous by either designing my own patterns from scratch or adapting ready-made patterns
• to knit something really fabulous that will become a family heirloom (any suggestions?)

That's enough for now, Happy New Year.

At last.....................

the aran chair cover is finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was finished on Sunday evening and there will be photos as soon as I remember to charge the camera.
I'm now knitting this for Lucy in a plain blue and this for me. There are also a few little bits and bobs floating around in my imagination but nothing definite yet.
Very short post tonight 'cause it was my first day back at work and I'm knackered!
G'night.