Bath (Pic Heavy)

Oh wow!!

I'm soooooo very tired!! We have been packing for the last week as well as trying to get rid of furniture that we aren't taking with us. To be quite honest, I wish I can just go already. The house looks like a bomb has hit it! There are boxes everywhere!!! I am even living out of box!



Problem is that it's winter here and summer in South Africa and with a weight limit of 20kg per bag, you are really limited in what you can take. I'm even worried about my cosmetics. You really can't find any nice make-up over there so I might just start stocking up on that too!
Knitting wise, I've finished a baby set for the bosses new baby-as yet unborn but due either today or tomorrow. The reason for the gift is that I was trying to get rid of excess yarn. So I made a little newborn set.


The little mitts are gorgeous and really easy to make. They are the Newborn Norwegian Sweet Mitts by Jennifer Hoel.
I've also progressed on the Ziggy Ziggy Sputniks although knitting has taken a back seat. I would probably have finished them by now if we weren't moving. So I'm about to start the toe decreases.
My biggest problem so far is planning knitting for the next month and probably the next 3 months for that matter. Most of my yarn has been vacuum packed (but I can still get in there!) I was planning to continue on the Continental knit afghan that I started a while ago. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I needed something more portable. So the afghan will be ditched for now. I do really want to continue on it but again packing restriction is my problem. SO! I am going to start my first lace shawl-I'm thinking the Swallowtail shawl by Evelyn A. Clark. It looks great and I bought some Kauni in a blue/ black/ grey/ purple variation that I like a lot. It should keep me busy for quite a while as we wait for our stuff to be shipped. I'm excited and scared at the same time but Meisje on Ravelry has been a great support and told me about lifelines. Why have I never heard of them!!
Next I will post some pics of our daytrip to Bath. WHAT A GREAT PLACE!

Phew!

I'm not dead...just packing like CRAZY!! Posting may be a bit erratic for the following few weeks. We have so many farewell parties, goodbye coffees etc that I have to keep a diary to keep track. We are leaving our flat next week :-(
So I'm desperately trying to get rid of excess furniture and household goods. Not proving very easy.
I'm tired...

Ziggy ziggy sputnik

OK so here you go..the Ziggy monster that I have created. I'm so chuffed with how it is turning out and they are ALL FOR ME!! Yeah!!!


I had to laugh though! I started these last week Saturday after I got back from the Knitting show at Ally Pally. I was soooo tired and my eyes were burning but I was resolute. I wanted to start them. So I cast on that night, knitted the rib and started on the zigzag pattern. The next day I couldn't understand why I was one stitch short...mmm...
And then found the reason....

One dropped stitch!! It's so bloody obvious I can't believe I didn't see it before??!! How tired was I really??!! I've knitted so much of it already that I'm not going back so will just have to sew it in and pretend it never happened.

I'm also quite proud of my friend K who I have been teaching to knit. She has been doing so well. I started her off on some Amigurumi as she has a short attention span. And this week she started her first sock! I feel like a proud mother!! Here I am teaching her to turn the heel on her first sock.

Her cast on and ribbing is a bit loose and sloppy but I'm sure it will get better on the second sock. She also struggles with 'gaps' between the needles on the knitting. I told her to knit her first pair for herself as she will probably make mistakes. She is so excited and am loving knitting them so WELL DONE K!!!

So I have to start some serious packing today but am feeling a bit lazy. But we only have 2 weeks left. It feels so lovely and bright in Wimbledon today and I realise again that I will miss it.
Have a look at a lovely misty morning this week. The cranes are at the Wimbledon tennis courts where they are building the new roof.

Pictures

The Hyperbolic reef

Alexandra Palace outside and in..



And me...

The Knitting and Stitching Show

Yesterday was the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace. I volunteered at the UK Handknitting stand, teaching people to knit or crochet.

I pretty much spent the whole day on my ass, knitting away on the Rockstar's socks. They actually proved quite a hit with everyone walking past. I managed to help quite a lot of people with sock related questions such as turning heels. And everyone seems to think that knitting socks is hard. Not in my opinion of course!!!
Anyway, so there I was knitting away and these people with cameras turn up to photograph....Jennifer Stafford aka the Domiknitrix and speed knitters Miriam Tegels and Marie-Alice Morisset. I'll tell you! You haven't seen knitting until you see these two in action!!!! Sheesh! My eyes were properly popping from their sockets! It's just a blur of hands and suddenly a row is done!
Here are the speedknitting ladies in action...

And then to top it all off...the domiknitrix walks over and compliments me on my Shalom sweater!! Double sheesh!!! Nearly pooped my pants and couldn't remember the pattern name. I felt like such an idiot!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY!! She was so nice though. I felt compelled to add her to me friends on Ravelry. Which I did....
Anyway, I spent the rest of the day helping them...

Oh I nearly forgot a photo of the Domiknitrix..


And then for everyone who either asked me about my sweater or complimented me on it.....THANK YOU!!! I was immensely flattered!!
Of course I couldn't go to a knitting show and not buy anything! Duh! So I got some Noro sock yarn and some Kauni in a black/ purple/ grey. The Noro has already been cast on. I wanted to knit the Ziggy socks from Knitty.com but after having a look through the pattern, I realised that they are colourwork. And after my past experience with too tight colourwork, I was naturally not keen. So I instead chose the popular Jaywalker pattern and combined it with the Noro Striped Scarf from Jared Flood. The scarf pattern uses one ball of yarn, wound into two balls. You then knit every two rows in alternating balls. So what you get is a striped effect with colour changing along the way. I've started it up and am about 2 inches in. Despite a rough start last night due to overly tired eyes and baby-poop for brains, I managed to correct the crap( excuse the pun) from last night. So far I have blue and green alternating rows. I'll take a picture tomorrow. The Kaui is part of the stash building project.

Hey, did I mention Alexandra palace is gorgeous?! Looky here..

mmm...I seem to be running into upload problems...will post them later.
Right now, I'm off to bed after showing some real crazies around the flat. Where do these people crawl out from?

So...

Did I say I liked my camera....

I LOVE MY CAMERA!!! It really is awesome!! Today I bought a camera case and extra battery. I wanted a case that wouldn't scratch the screen when you put it in. So I got a Lowepro pouch that zips open around the top and flips open quite far. So no nasty zippers in sight. And I've been taking some pictures of pretty silly things just for the sake of taking a photo!
So here are some random pics from today...
On the night bus, the sunrise this morning and a local visitor




How worried are you about the global economy? We're not sure how it will influence us in South Africa as yet as things tend to take a while to get all the way to the end of Africa. But workwise, the Rockstar is seeing the effects already. No clients are coming in and the office is dead. Really not good news. I'm just glad that we didn't buy a flat or house as mortgage rates would surely double or triple.

Anyway, I'm halfway through the Rockstars second sock. I'm turning the heel. The yarn is softer than I thought and knits up lovely. Even the colourway is lovely. Why oh why didn't I buy another skein???? IDIOT!

Tomorrow I need to start packing some stuff and getting rid of some more. I need to be ruthless. Less crap and keep the most useful...easier than it sounds!!

Yeah! New camera at last!

I finally managed to buy a new digital camera...we figured that we probably won't be able to afford one when we are back in SA so would have to buy one now while we can. Anyway, without further ado, I present my new camera....



It's the Panasonic Lumix TZ5 with 10x optical zoom, 9.1 megapixel and all sorts of other fancy things that I know nothing about! Haha! Anyway, it works like a charm and looks really nice too!

This means that I can finally retake some of my terrible project pictures from before.

I've decided to finish off those hibernating projects that are hiding in the bottom of my basket. I don't really fancy moving them with needles and all. So I finally made the straps for my Lelah top. I made 2 icord strips and attached them with press studs on the inside edge. I wanted to have them removable. They are also fairly loose which allows me to use one strap as a halter neck too. And here it is courtesy of the new camera.
This is cross back from the front

This is the back with cross straps-my arms look funny here-kinda sinewy

And the halter neck from front

Not bad I think...

And the rockstars socks are half done. I finished one last night and he already wanted to wear it. It's really knitting up nicely and I'm quite jealous!! Damn!!



And I RECEIVED MY KAUNI!!! YYAAAHHH!!! It's bloody gorgeous!!!



MUST KNIT NEW YARN......
MUST KNIT NEW YARN......
MUST KNIT NEW YARN......

DAMMIT!

The state of the nation

Yesterday I heard/saw something so amazing that if I wasn't there myself, I wouldn't have believed it!
I was in a clothing store yesterday, browsing. There were two girls in the store too. One was standing next to me, browsing, the other staring in a mirror not far off. The one staring in the mirror came over and conversation went as follows:
Mirror girl: Hey, guess what. If you close your eyes, and open it again, those black bits go from very large to very small quickly! ( and here's the best bit) I thought it was a myth!

WWHHHAAAATTT!!! The black bit? Myth?
Man, what is up with the education system in this day and age? I remember learning about the eye and pupils and light reaction. And I was in a normal state school. Crazy! I feel for the future of the UK.

Pedi socks DONE!

Man, I'm getting really fast at knitting socks! These guys are for a friend who requested some socks similar to mittens where the top folds away. And VOILA...




I also ordered some Kauni from Scandinavian Knitting and man, these people work at the speed of light. I ordered it on Wednesday and got it today! Nice one guys!!! And the yarn is so bloody gorgeous I could cry. I bought the ever popular Rainbow and also a purple-pink version. I really want to make a shawl but not to wear as a shawl. I want to wear it for a scarf...does that make sense?? Anyway, the yarn is really gorgeous and I really have to stop myself from starting something new. I really don't want to start anything new as I will have to start packing up soon. So with the pedi socks done, I started another pair of sock for the Rockstar as I've promised him a pair a LOOOONG time ago! ( guilty as charged) The yarn is from Fleece Artist called Nova socks and is a variegated sock yarn in black, blue and green. Secretly I would have loved this for myself but I promised....boo...
I also splashed out on some Koigu. It wasn't cheap but I figured that if we leave the country, I might never get a chance to try it EVER!!!! Now we can't have that, can we??!! Seriously now, my stash build is coming along nicely....( Mr Evil finger in corner of mouth)

Anyway, here is the Rockstar's lunch from today...

Very rock n roll!