I love Hobbycraft!

I'm about to start a new project and realised I needed a new set of needles, so just popped over to Hobbycraft down the road and now I have everything I need:) It's so convenient having the store just over the road, although it does make things a bit more dangerous on the 'spend all our money on yarn' front!

Anyway, on to the knitting - very exciting starting a new project!

Kittens and the piano

Well here we are, and another 6 weeks has gone by with no blog from me - ah well, I guess it's because not much knitting has been going on lately for me but I have a very good excuse!

The house is pretty much sorted now (and by that I mean we have bought and put up curtains and lamp shades in every room and build all furniture that will reasonably fit in our little house!) and we have had a recent addition to our family: our two new beautiful Burmese kittens!

Their names are Kawaii (on the right) and Sebastian (on the left) and they are as mischievous as they look and totally adorable!

So with these two cuties running around the house it's very difficult to get much else done, plus they are their own entertainment - who needs tv when you can play with kittens?

I am planning on getting out the knitting some time soon, no prizes for guessing what will happen to the yarn if I turn my back for a few minutes, so will have to keep an eye on the two monkeys:)

I ordered a piano cover online a few weeks ago, which is custom made to fit the dimensions of the Petrof and I courageously fought my way through London on the tube yesterday evening (during a strike no less!) with the box containing said cover, the size of a huge old fashioned tv! Anyway it was worth it as it fits perfectly and now we don't have to worry about the felines using it as a sliding landing platform.

Anyway, this post was just to update on our most exciting recent news - and it's so wonderful coming home everyday to those two beautiful babies waiting for food and smoothes:)

x

Knitting withdrawal symptoms

I was so very close to completing my bamboo skirt and suddenly between moving house (which was brilliant and exhausting at the same time) and busy work (unexpected at this time of year) I haven't actually been able to do any knitting for at least a month now!

I guess its not the end of the world, just feels very strange and feel like I might forget how if I leave it too long! haha just kidding.

I'm travelling at the moment, been in Rome on Tuesday and Wednesday then Berlin yesterday and today, but very much looking forward to coming home to our new house and my fiancee - travelling for work is exciting to a certain point, but at the same time, nothing beats being at home with people who speak your language:)

And yes, I realise my promise to blog more has been broken, here's to an attempt at more regular blogging!

blogium for iPhone

Just testing out my blogger app on my phone-haven't really done much knitting lately been busy but hoping to finish my bamboo skirt soon!
x

Posted from Blogium for iPhone

The importance of casting off LOOSELY

So, I wore my red camisole out for the first time yesterday to the Double Helix boat party and it was great! A couple of people commented on my top and when I told them I'd made it they were impressed (bonus!). But when I got home I hadn't realised how tight it had been at the top where I cast off and had rubbed a welt into my skin! It was quite sore the next day - confirmation that I need to undo and re-cast off (for a third time!!). I think this warning should be in the knitting pattern as I already undid it once before when I cast off normally and it was too tight to put on.

I also still need to darn the socks I made for my mum, I foolishly hoped that making a pair of merino/ cashmere socks devoid of nylon would last at least 6 months, but already they have holes in both heels. I've learnt my lesson and will only make socks with nylon in them or else buy a spool of nylon sewing thread and knit that into the yarn too...

It's a time of learning lessons the hard way! But in better news, I've nearly finished the Intolerable Cruelty skirt I'm knitting with bamboo soft from RYC - it's such a soft fabric and am very much looking forward to wearing it:)

x

Red camisole finished at last

I start this camisole top (my first one) last March and completed the knitting part in July, but have taken until this morning to find and sew the ribbons on...so here it is!

Jury duty

I started jury service on Monday and didn't realise just how much waiting around is involved - but unexpected bonus: I can spend the whole time knitting and chatting to the other people there!

I've made loads of progress on the Herringbone jumper I'm working on, so on track to finish sometime in April. When people run out of conversation they start asking me about what I'm knitting and it's nice seeing how people are interested in it!

I'm feeling very tempted to buy more yarn as I haven't in a while, but with our recent purchase of a whole house :):) I'm needing to be more careful, but it's worth it! So once we're settled in I want to make something called a Luna Blanket which is really pretty squares of cream and black yarn with intarsia patterns.

Right, on with the jumper:)