A Biography of Mr Claude Grenache

This is Mr Claude Grenache, from Switzerland.

He has a degree in English Literature and theatre. In his spare time he enjoys sampling fine wines and skiing in the Swiss Alps. Mr Grenache likes bpop jazz and he plays the oboe. He think s that stimulating conversation is a must for any social gathering and he lives in a decently-sized apartment in Berne, Switzerland's capital. He hosts a dinner party once a month for his university professor friends and attends a book club once a week.
At present, Claude Grenache is a bachelor and isn't intending to take a wife any time soon

Mr Grenache's biography researched and prepared by Bethany.

Let me introduce you............

............to

Claude and Optricia.
I found a book in Waterstone's the other day which I just had to buy, and these two are the direct result of that purchase.
The author makes a living from selling these creatures and has now written a book to share his expertise. Claude was made by following one set of instructions to the letter, and Optricia was made by following the basic techniques and using my imagination.
I hope there will be many more of these, they are great fun to make and are just so quirky - I love 'em! (Not sure if I could bear to cut up any hand-knitted socks, though).

At last

I can now show you proof that I haven't been slacking recently (well, only at blogging, but I do have a full-time job and children and a house and a cat etc etc).

First up is the finished lacy frou-frou cardi that was finally completed about 10 days ago. It has been wined and dined (we went out for dinner last Thursday) but I'm still not convinced that it is for me............



(If you look very closely at the bottom left hand corner of the picture, you can just see the very end of Mollie's tail - she felt I needed her advice on taking photos)



(I have told Mollie that the best photographers try and stay out of their photos)

I have also finished this recently, to go with some gloves that I made from HipKnits sock-weight cashmere - unfortunately, the gloves seem to have migrated into Lucy's pockets so may never be seen again

It was knitted on my machine, just to try out some punchcards that I got on Ebay, but I think the eyelets lend it a certain "Clapotis" effect (actually, now I've looked at Clapotis again, who am I kidding - it's just a scarf with holes!)

Have also done this:

which is for Lucy. It's not quite finished as there will be some flowers on it in (I think) reds, blues and purples. It was adapted from the Wobbly Circles tote (scroll down a bit) pattern in the latest Interweave Knits magazine and was knitted in Twilley's Freedom Wool, which felts incredibly well. The fabric is really firm and thick.

Last, but not least is the current WIP, Rock Star cardi from Alchemy Yarns

I know it's not much but I only started it on Tuesday and I've been getting home late most days this week so knitting time is quite curtailed at present.
There won't be much progress this weekend either as I have an urgent date with my knitting machine for a somewhat experimental project - details will follow if successful!

You may be forgiven....

....... for thinking that I had forgotten about this blog, but that is definitely not the case. I just haven't got anything to show at the moment. I was hoping to have the frou-frou cardi finished by now, but those ridiculous frills take forever to knit - I remember now why I've always avoided fisherman's rib, it doesn't grow! Hopefully by the weekend, there will be a finished frou-frou to be photograhed and displayed - whether it will be worn or not is another matter.
I have just bought some black and off-white wool to knit a bag for Lucy, which I am itching to start, so there is extra motivation to get the frou-frou finished. It's so close to being finished that I daren't stop now in case I never pick it up again. I'm not very good at being faithful to one project at a time, in fact I'm suprised I haven't been arrested for committing multiple knitting bigamy. Tut,tut, what would my mother say?
Short post tonight, I need to be knitting, not blogging about it.
*wanders off, muttering "knitting is not a virtual hobby, it really does exist"*