Distractions, distractions...

There are times when I think I must be knitting very slowly. Now is one of those times. I'm knitting things which aren't inspiring me and I feel like I'm never going to get to the end of them. When I hit a moment of self-doubt, I realise there are distractions which are keeping me away from my knitting (aside from reading my favourite knitting blogs of course - I can waste literally hours doing that). The distractions in question are shown above. First was my wonderful evening at my friend Helen's house doing "glitter and glue". Now, as a pre-school teacher, initially the thought of yet more glitter and glue did not hold much appeal. However, when Helen showed me some of her home-made cards, I was hooked. The first photo shows a completed card I made. The second photo is a sheet of mosaic style tissue paper, mulberry paper, glitter, glue and fusible fibre from which I will select little windows to stick onto cards. The overall effect is beautiful and, despite all sorts of self-doubts before I started, the process was liberating and fun, demanding very little skill.

The second distraction involved scissors and my counting skills. I volunteered to cut up 34 yellow card teddies with their corresponding legs and arms (if teddies can be classed as having arms??) - all 132 of them - for playgroup. Having recently cut out 34 teapot cards out of the same yellow carad, I will be glad never to see yellow card ever again!!! On top of this I have volunteered to count Tesco "computers for Schools" vouchers into neat piles of 100 vouchers for my children's infant school. The piles of blue vochers represent only a small part of the vouchers counted so far (something like 2500 and counting). And I wonder why I don't get enough knitting done??

And then came Sunday 6 April which brought snow. We don't get snow here very much and when we do, the sugar coating we get barely counts as snow (although it does have the capacity to bring the region to a grinding halt...). Sunday was a whole different ball game. In an hour we had 2.5 inches of snow. So, it called for photography, snowman making and snowball fights with our children. Wonderful, childlike fun which was therapeutic and exhilerating. We all got red faces and ears, soggy gloves and wet knees. But had a ball. So I didn't get to do much knitting that day. Instead, I got a couple of hourse of laughter and excitement shared with my 7 and 5 year olds. I call that a good deal.

Rogue is being blocked & Chelsea pullover is finished!!

I never thought I'd get to the point of blocking Rogue. After I finished most of the knitting, my son insisted I start making him a jumper. And because I promised him one, I had to promise to knit one for my daughter too. So, I have one jumper blocking (Rogue - seen above). One jumper on my son (dubbed the Chelsea pullover after its main colour and my son's favourite football team). And one for my daughter in the throes of being knitted (photos to follow).

At least I am making some progress...

Rogue and the lurgy

Well, actually they're not one and the same thing. By way of an update on Rogue, it's nearly an FO. Body complete, sleeves 99% complete (I do two at a time as I hate going back for the second sleeve. It's more likely to stay a UFO if I do them separately). Just need to block it, sew in loose ends and hem it after that. Which is great because I have a 7 year old son who is champing at the bit for me to make him a jumper in Chelsea FC blue with pale and light blue stripes (nothing tasteful, please note. Well, I suppose, he is only 7) I have lots of other things on my wish list but he has to come first. And it will be a first too - he has never wanted me to knit him anything before. He may never want me to again... :-)

The lurgy part of the title comes from the fact that I am going down with something pretty nasty and viral - flu-like symptoms - just in time for Easter. So it will slow my progress considerably. I may not be able to post the FO photos of Rogue for a while. mind you, I never managed to post any WIP photos of it either. Sorry.

Rogue hoodie is on the needles

I've decided to knit something both functional but with lovely design details and Rogue Hoodie fits the bill. A lot of my recent knitting has been dress up rather than down in its styling - Mermaid, Clovelly, various Rowan patterns which require some thought about wearing... I want something I can pretty much fling on without much thought but which will still please me when worn and again, Rogue fits the bill. I found some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran on ebay at a lovely low price - in a French navy which will be practical. The yarn is soft but so far seems to be displaying the cables nicely. Only time will tell as to whether it is a durable as I'd like. Chances are it won't be - it's Debbie Bliss and it has cashmere in it - but it could well become a firm favourite. I've got as far as picking up stitches from the back of the kangaroo pouch at the front so there is a lot of knitting still to do. I'll dig out my camera soon to show progress.

How many below zero???

I have recently returned from a week in Toronto. I haven't been to Canada since 1995 prior to this trip and it an autumn trip so the weather was much more welcoming. On my arrival in Toronto, it was -19 C and truly brain-numbing. I think the wind chill was the worst. I have experienced colder temperatures - when I lived in Austria back in 1986/87, it was -44 when you counted the wind chill. But, I am no longer used to those sorts of temperatures. The UK rarely goes below -7 C in the South East.

Anyway, I arrived to cold, grey weather but thankfully, that's where the chill ended. I spent a day and a half visiting my aunt and uncle in London, Ontario. They are getting older (nearly 80) and so don't travel much any more. It was lovely to be able to spend time with them and just talk.

And then I headed back to Toronto for the Pastors and Leaders conference at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. What a blast! I was not in great shape spiritually or emotionally before going to Canada but 4 days of great Christian teaching, worship and prayer have transformed me. I have come back at peace with the world, spiritually refreshed and renewed and ready to face anything. So, even though it was -19 outside, we were alive and on fire with the Holy Spirit. An awesome experience.

These are a few of my favourite things

Children can be such a blessing but there are plenty of occasions when it is hard to remember that. Here's to one occasion when I was able to be thankful for the blessing that is my lovely daughter. On Saturday she came out with the immortal words "My favourite things are my family, chocolate and shoe shops". Don't know where she gets it from. Now, if she'd said yarn shops I would have understood... :-) It made her sound a lot older than her 4 and a half years. But then again, seeing her asleep later with her class mascot from school (the one and only Monkey), I remembered just how little she really is and that she won't stay that way for long.

Promenade is now an F.O.

It's been a long time in the gestation but Promenade has finally arrived as an FO. I managed to get as far as the last 20 rows a few weeks ago but then I went to Toronto and had a day being interviewed for a place on a PGCE programme to become a primary teacher (they want me... miracles do happen!) so it all got slowed down by life. On Friday, the last 3-needle bind off happened and I sewed up the two bits of border still requiring attention. I was a bit worried as I finished the last stitch. Because there are so many stitches on the needles at any one time, the whole thing had got bunched up and kind of cottered looking. So, I followed the advice of many a Hanne Falkenberg knitter and, holding my breath, washed it in warm, soapy water and rinsed it with fabric conditioner and laid it out to dry. To say that I am pleased with the end result is an understatement. Breath which had been held could be let out in a slow sigh of relief: Promenade relaxed and softenend as it dried. I always knit HF patterns on the tight side, having seen other people's distress at sleeves being too long (not a problem with Promenade, clearly) and so forth. The process of a tight gauge and then washing and relaxing the wool has made a lovely, drapey fabric which is stretchy but which holds its shape well.

It had its first outing today to church and kept me lovely and warm despite the down draught from the organ which usually chills my back over the course of a service. Not today!