Travels

DH and I spent 5 days in Krakow last week. Five whole days! And it wasn't nearly enough. I'd never been there before, but after talking to numerous people who had been (and loved it), I knew I would fall in love with it. And I did. We both did, actually. There was something so charming about the city.

Maybe it was the beautiful architecture around Market Square

or the Palace and Cathedral on Wawel Hill

or one of the many pub/restaurants built into fabulously old underground tunnels

Most likely it was a combination of all of the above. So incredibly atmospheric! Are you getting the sense that I enjoyed myself immensely??

It probably helped that my knitty friend Emma just happened to be on the same flight over. She lived there for a year and happened to be going to visit friends at the same time. She was a wealth of information for things like non-touristy cafes (with amazing apple cake!!), unusual sites...and, of course....YARN SHOPS!

I behaved myself and only bought two 100g balls of some lovely, chunky Czech yarn

and just to try to show how utterly soft it is, here's a super close-up!

In news closer to home, I'm afraid I have to eat my words. Ok, I don't think I've actually ever written these words down, but I know I've said them on many occasions. You see, I like to knit. No, I LOVE to knit. The problem is, I also am required to pay the mortgage and work. Therefore, there are not enough hours in the day to knit as much as I would like. As a result, I have always said that, as much as some other crafty type things interest me, I'd rather not start, as it would leave me with fewer hours to knit.

Well, I'm now officially going to have fewer hours of my life to devote to knitting, as I've begun an introductory silversmithing/jewelry making course. I've only had one class so far, but it was so cool! It's held at a local community college in a workshop with lots of tools (I like tools!!) and even this blow-torchy kind of thing (ok, so I don't have all the lingo down yet), but it was so much fun!!

Here's what I've accomplished so far

And, yes, I realise it just looks like a ring of copper that I could have cut from a pipe under my kitchen sink, it actually started out as a flat rectangle of copper that I had to cut and turn into a ring that would actually fit my finger. It doesn't matter that the finger it fits on isn't the finger I was actually trying to size it for. And it's not actually finished yet, either. I think that will be this week's lesson. But I'm still really proud of it...

Huh?

I've been struck by the need to comment on human communication and how easily we can misinterpret each other. And, on the flip-side, how difficult it can be to communicate our thoughts accurately. I even have a knitting-related example of this.

Last year, I knitted a pair of Ampersand socks and sent them to a friend in Michigan. She then

sent me this brilliant photo of the socks enjoying their new home to prove she was providing them with the life they deserved:

I still laugh every time I look at it!

A couple months later, I knitted a pair of Eyelet and Flame Chevron Socks for my mum and posted them off to her in California. I asked her to take a similar photo. Possibly putting on the socks, propping her feet up on the coffee table and taking a photo while she watched TV. Or sitting on the porch, with a view out over their garden. And I emailed her the above photo.

Well, after months of waiting, she and my dad put their heads together on New Year's Day and came up with this photo to send me:

Somehow, I don't think I got my point across very well! I can't say that I really understand what inspired the photo, but it certainly makes me laugh as much as the other one!

Yarn Sale!

Important announcement!!

Found out from Lilith of Old Maiden Aunt Yarns that she's currently having a major clear out. All hand-dyed OMA yarns are on sale for 20% off in celebration of opening her new studio in West Kilbride.

If you haven't knitted with this yarn before, you really need to!

Catching up

Finally have a some photos to share of a couple finished objects.

Do you remember the Fiddlehead Mitts I was absolutely over the moon to be knitting way back in June? Took less than 2 weeks to complete the first one. The second, however, took 6 months, as I just finished it a couple days before Christmas. Not sure what my problem was. Loved knitting the first one. The pattern is fab and they knit up so quickly! And it's so much fun to watch the colour pattern emerge during the knitting process. However, I guess "second mitt syndrome" must be very closely linked to "second sock syndrome". My timing was actually quite good, as we've had a bit of a cold snap in Glasgow since just before Christmas, with lots of frosty mornings and some days where the frost never completely clears, so I've gotten quite a bit of use out of them already.

And here are a couple photos of a Christmas pressie for a friend in Michigan.

I was headed to Liverpool for work for a week in November with two colleagues. I needed something that would be pretty much mindless to knit on the train, so I could be social and not completely consumed by my knitting. (The two colleagues of note are quite aware of my addiction and always do their best to look interested when ramble on about my projects, yarn, etc. And they might go so far as to think I was ill if I hadn't pulled out some sort of knitting during the journey. So I desperately needed a suitable project. Wouldn't want them to worry, you know...) I used Adrafil Knitcol self patterning yarn and improvised the pattern as I went along. I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out. Now I just need to actually SEND it. (Yes, I know Christmas was a while ago. Have I mentioned I'm rubbish with deadlines?)

And, just because I can, I'm including one gratuitous puppy-dog shot!

Resolved

Could someone please tell me what happened after 10/10/08? It appears that I entered a perfectly normal post to my blog and then vanished. As I recall, I fully intended to continue updating fairly regularly, then...whoooosh!...suddenly it was November...December...and now January.

So, what's better to do on New Year's Day, then start fresh?!

I'm afraid I can't post any photos of FOs yet, as, ummm, I haven't taken any since October. However, I fully intend to enlist hubby as a photographer sometime this weekend, so I can do a proper blog update.

I would like to put my New Year's Knitting Resolutions to you all here, though...in writing. Last year, I remember reading everyone's blogs and seeing what they had resolved to accomplish in this wonderful world of knitting during the upcoming year. I had resolved to make at least one garment-type-object (sweater, cardi or the like) that I would be proud of. Just didn't want to put it in writing in case it was a horrible failure. As a result, I think I've actually achieved two.

So, this year, I figured I'd be as brave as my friends seem to be and actually "put it down on paper", so to speak. So, here are my two knitting goals for the upcoming year:

Beaded lacework. Beginning with Waves of Grain from Knitty, Fall 2008. I casted on this morning using some of Lilith's lovely Old Maiden Aunt Laceweight Merino.

After getting that one under my belt, I'd like to make Waves in the Square Shawl.

2. My second goal is to take another stab at continental style knitting.

I attempted to teach myself this about a year ago and spent an ENTIRE AFTERNOON trying to perfect it. To my astonishment, it didn't happen that quickly and I went back into my comfort zone of holding yarn in no specific manner, but just sort of what has always worked for me. I was recently knitting with Karie and marvelled at how easily the stitches seem to flow compared to my "less refined but works just fine" (groan) method. Think I will ask her to put her teaching hat on and take an extra dose of patience and attempt to teach an old dog (ok, not THAT old) new tricks.

That's the plan at least. I'll let you know how it goes!

15 seconds of fame

I'm afraid I'm blogging old news today. Very old, but I haven't had a chance to write about it until now. My knitting group, Glasgow Knit 'n Stitch were on STV's Five-Thirty Show Monday evening. I think I mentioned we were filmed for it, but I didn't know when it would be shown. I didn't find out that it had been on until after the fact, but I was able to watch it online by going here . Go forward about 4 minutes and...there we are. One of the hosts actually said that knitting has become sexy...of course, his female sidekick was quick to shoot that one down, but the words were spoken nonetheless!!


My group met up on Tuesday evening, as per usual, and I found the chat about our TV debut quite interesting. I think we were all impressed with how well we (and knitting) were portrayed. We also thought everyone who appeared on camera came off as bright, articulate, composed, beautiful....except when looking at ourselves. We all had something negative to say about ourselves. Me included. I didn't like what I ended up saying at all, but didn't know what I was going to be asked and those were just the words that came out. That isn't to say I'm particularly unhappy about it. I love the finished clip and it was a lot of fun to do and I'd do it again at the drop of a hat! However, I do think it's funny that we are so often our own worst critic, when it's really unwarranted.


Enough of my ponderings! I've been playing around with some beads lately and have made my first set of stitch markers.



They are definitely a bit wonky, as I'm not very good and wrapping wire yet (there's that self-criticism raising it's ugly head again)! However, I'm proud enough of them to show them off here, as I think they're not too shabby for a first go!

Spoils

Just wanted to report on the spoils obtained from my little journey to New Lanark on Monday. I'd never been there before and my goal was to buy yarn. I went with two friends from my knitting group and I think we all went with the same goal in mind. And, while we all achieved what we set out to, I now have a goal to go back and explore the area more thoroughly. New Lanark is an 18th century cotton/wool mill and village, so there's the obvious historic connection, but it's also set in the most beautiful, idyllic area. I think I could easily spend a day exploring, wandering and learning...with a few rows of knitting thrown in at the cafe!


So, what lovely yarn did I come home with?? 10 balls of fabulous aran weight 100% wool in a shade very appropriately called 'gritstone'. What am I going to make with this fabulous wool? This wool that feels like it just came off the sheep...it feels very hardy, warm and weather resistant to the touch. Well, I've just started Avast, which is a free pattern I recently came across on Knitty.



I fell in love with the cabled band which will go around the bottom and is a great stylistic feature on an otherwise stocking stitch zippered jacket/cardi. It also incorporates some lovely finishing techniques, which will be good practice for me and will, hopefully, result in quite a professional look. I've promised DH I will 'try' to have this completed before next summer, but reminded him that we do live in Scotland, so even if I don't finish it until next July, he may very well be able to wear it upon completion!