Presents

I am a very lucky girl! The Angel Yarns knitting forum, of which I am a member, has been running a "Secret Summer Santa" and I decided to take part. I have often toyed with the idea of taking part in a Secret Pal exchange but never got round to it - I couldn't really be bothered with setting up an anonymous e-mail address and all that stuff but the SSS didn't involve much effort on my part other than browsing knitting shops (and that was hard!).
Anyway, back to the point, my pressies arrived today and I am chuffed to bits, thrilled, over the moon, happy to the point of bursting and any other expression that signifies great delight.
Lookee here:


Close-ups


and


and of course, Mollie had to get in on the act:

That is three hanks of recycled sari silk yarn which I have been wanting to try for aaaaaaaaaages but couldn't justify the expense; a meltingly soft skein of Angel Yarns hand-painted silk in lovely pale blues, greys and pinks and what doesn't show up very well - six stitch markers with little pussycats on them (Mollie was very impressed). There was also a CD which was based on my predilection for cheesy 60s music - I have a sore throat now from singing along all day (remind me to apologise to the neighbours later).
The clue was a picture of Don Johnson and the other bloke (whose name totally escapes me) from Miami Vice. There was a title next to the picture that said "Miami" and asked "What's missing".
The answer of course was that there was "No Vice" which is Novice (her forum name), aka Claire. Thank you so much, Claire, it was a lovely present and you got my tastes exactly right.

Apart from the excitement of thinking all my Christmasses had come at once, I have been knitting and crocheting. The current knitting projects are:

• Sunrise circle jacket - on hold whilst we've had the hot weather, aran-weight wool is no good when your hands are sweating
• Rock star cardi - 2nd attempt as first one was waaaaay too big and ended up being donated to MIL
• Cropped cardi from Knit1 for Bethany - it's green in the magazine but Bethany wanted Peacock blue which is much nicer than the green IMHO
• jaywalker socks - they are definitely around somewhere but not too sure exactly where at the moment. I don't need woolly socks in this weather, anyway.

There may be a couple of other things OTN as well, but I'm blowed if I can remember what they are! Plenty more ideas in the old grey cells though.

In crochet, I have a couple of small projects on the go but I'm not too sure if I'm meant to be discussing them at present. I will take photos before they are sent off and reveal them as and when. Have also promised Lucy a crochet long-sleeved shrug but that's not been started yet. Also got a couple of crochet bags that I want to make soon but they may be delayed now I've got the scrummy stuff from Claire.

Well, I can't waste any more precious time on the 'puter, I've got knitting to do!

No news

is good news or so they say. In this instance it just means that I haven't got much to say.
I have finished a crochet bag, but in true dim-witted Up Knit Creek fashion I completely forgot to take a photo of it before I gave it to its new owner. The new owner is the same friend whose daughter I knitted the shruggy bolero thingy for recently and she has been having a bit of a rough time lately so I wanted to cheer her up a bit. The bag was the Big Bottomed bag (I think that's what it's called - my memory is terrible) from The Happy Hooker and was very easy to make once I'd understood what a "herringbone half double crochet" is.

I sent off my present for the Angel Yarns forum Secret Summer Santa on Tuesday and am very pleased to report that my spoilee, Miss Naomi (no link, I don't think she has a blog), has declared herself very happy with her gifts. That's a huge relief because I really enjoyed choosing what to get (and making some of it) and would have been very disappointed if it had not been to her liking. I've never taken part in any of these Secret Pal type things before, maybe because it's a bit too much commitment, but this one was just right. One gift (about £20 in value) and no messing about with secret e-mail addresses and all that mullarkey - a quick fix, that's all I need!

This week at work has been very trying, mainly because of the weather. The temperature round here has been up to 36 degrees celsius ( about 90-something fahrenheit) which is quite unusual, even in high summer. That in itself is not a problem and if I were able to be beside a pool with a cool drink and a hot book, I would have no complaints at all. The problem is that I spend most of the day in my car, which does not have air-con, driving round crowded streets at 20 mph before going into the houses of elderly people who insist on keeping their windows closed to avoid draughts. Add in the fact that this year I have decided to grow my *fiendishly thick* hair long (but not yet long enough to tie back off my face and neck) and by the end of the day I feel as though I have melted into a puddle of ectoplasm on the car seat. Still, I'd be moaning if it was raining.

Finally

Yes, finally, it's dry.
.
Time to knit: 2 days, including having to wait for Monday morning to get more yarn.
Time to dry: forever (well, 4 days actually, but it felt like forever).
Time spent admiring it: all day today so far!
Both OH and Lucy have said that they think it's the most professional-looking bag that I've made so far, so I'm pleased, really pleased.
*Wanders off with slightly scary grin plastered all over face*

Still drying

I was hoping to have a FO to display today but it's not dry yet. The item in question is a felted bag ( a girl can never have too many bags) from Pursenality Plus (it's the pink one on the top row) but it is so thick (which is good) that it's taking ages to dry (which is bad). It has been hanging up for the best part of two days and has been subjected to a very hot iron and a turn in the tumble dryer but is still not completely dry. I'm just itching to get the handles put on and sew in the pocket and the trims and start flaunting it about but my patience is beginning to wear thin. If it's not dry tomorrow I might have to construct a bonfire in the garden and support the bag over it on a spit! (Take that, you unco-operative bag!)
I have used Twilley's Freedom wool in a mottled turquoise instead of the Cascade 220 called for because the Twilley's is easier to get and I know from past experience how well it felts. The drawback is that the range of colours is nowhere near as good as the Cascade and I have to turn my brain to mush do sums to work out how much I need - as it turned out in this particular case, I didn't do the sums very accurately and had to buy an extra ball of black for the trim.

The woolly-headed loonies lovely members of Angel Yarns forums have set up a Secret Summer Santa recently, a kind of Secret Pal exchange only a bit simpler. We each have to send our "spoilee" a gift to the value of £20, knitting-related, and with a clue to our identity. It is proving to be quite tricky, as not everyone has a blog so it's not easy to get clues about likes and dislikes from a few short posts on the forum. I have made my purchase(s) now but there are a few other item(s) that need to be gathered together to complete the parcel (I'm being deliberately vague in case my spoilee chances upon these humble ramblings). The trickiest bit is the clue - what on earth can I give as a clue that won't be either screamingly obvious or so convoluted as to be unsolvable? I'm stumped, I tell ya, stumped!

A quickie

Started this on Saturday evening, just finished the final weaving in of ends about half an hour ago;


Crocheted in "Wendy" Supreme luxury cotton DK, used 2 x 100g balls (201 metres per ball). Pattern: my own, using the "triple strand lace" stitch from The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches (The Harmony Guides) - I say "pattern" but really I just made it up as I went along. Very simple, no shaping and no complicated stitches or techniques - if you can do chain and double crochet (US single crochet) you can make this.

Scary

The girls went to a fancy dress party yesterday - Lucy (top) was "an eighties' throwback" and Bethany was a fairy - she also had a pair of red wings and biker boots to complete the look.
I had to go and have a lie-down in a darkened room after that.

The glorious sunshine that we have had here for the past few days doesn't suit everyone:

Poor Mollie just doesn't know what to do with herself - she's been desperately trying to find a shady spot to cool off but without much luck. When I knelt down to take this picture the stones were so hot I almost burnt my knees.

Last but not least, a finished object

This is the Lotus Blossom Tank from Interweave Knits Spring 2006 (or was it Summer?). I used Rowan wool-cotton which is a dream to knit with. I had to alter the neckline afer the first wearing as it had a tendency to gape and flash my boobs - not a pretty sight as I am considerably better endowed than Dolly Dummy. I unpicked about an inch and then decreased about 8 stitches evenly across the next row, then carried on as per the pattern. It's now safe for me to wear in public.
During the knitting of this, my Denise needles cord connector snapped (see previous post) but I am very happy to report that one week after sending the e-mail, a whole new set of cords arrived in the post. That's what I call service!