How much?

Look! Over there! To your right.............

I hadn't updated my Knit Meter account since February, so I had quite a few projects to add - and I'm now gobsmacked to say the least! How much?

twelve thousand, two hundred and eighty-eight meters

and there's still quite a bit of 2010 to go..............

Wonder if I can get it up to 20,000 - shouldn't be too hard with all the charity squares I've got planned, should it?

Add to that some new, very exciting projects that have just been added to my list: baby things! Yes folks, I'm going to be an auntie in 2011! Squeeeeeeeee!

Silly Saturdays

Up until a few weeks ago, the arrival of the weekend was still a welcome relief from all the hustle and madness of the working week. Yes, Miss A would still wake me up a stupid hour, but I could at least sit back with a large cup of coffee and slowly wake up and 'welcome' the day.

No more......

Take this morning for instance. Miss A woke me up at exactly 6.10am - that's earlier than my alarm normally goes off.....she did climb in to bed with me while I tried to prolong the 'snooze moment', but I soon gave up, as it's impossible to even doze when you have a mouthful of hair and a small person wriggling in your arms. So, downstairs we go, with me hoping she'll be satisfied with a little kiddy tv for just long enough for me to have a very large cup of coffee (and where has the lid to my themo mug gone, I would like to know?).

Needless to say, that illusion was quickly burst - first she wanted food (how unreasonable of her! - and yes, I am only joking), then she wanted to do 'sticking' with the new collection of stickers I brought home for her yesterday. I have only myself to blame - I discovered the coolest website recently which has a huge range of crafty / arty products for kids at really good prices. I bought her three packs of foam stickers (jungle animals, flowers and shapes) plus a pack of A3 sugar paper a month ago, and she's already 'burned' through all the stickers...........don't get me wrong, it's fantastic to watch her make shapes and arrange the animals by type and colour - just not at 7am....even if she does make me laugh with her antics

It's now almost 8am, and I have to get motoring - need to get showered, dressed and out of the door by 9am. We need to stop by the post office before heading for ballet class (I'm hoping she will actually do some of the class today instead of bursting into tears and spending the lesson at my side....). We are then off to see my sister and BIL, followed by a stop at the supermarket. I reckon I'll be ready to collapse by the time we get back home........I think Miss A has a play date this afternoon (weather permitting), so I might just get a bit of 'hooky time' (get your minds out of the gutter - I'm talking crochet!). A few rounds on the market bag, or maybe a few of my sock granny squares:

I'm really loving these - can make two during my lunch break and mixing up the colours is really too much fun. I've got almost 90 large (4") squares made up now - will have to think about starting to sew them up soon, as I don't think I'll be able to face sewing all of the 400 projected squares in one go....

And what is Mr A doing while all this is going on? Well, he did have an impacted wisdom tooth removed yesterday (it required stitches in the end - eeek!), so I reckon he'll spend most of the day in bed........note to self: pick up some baby food for him, as I don't think he'll be wanting solids for at least 24 hours!

A little inspiration......

One of my favourite blogs for sheer inspiration and bold, fun splashes of colour is Attic 24. Lucy, the lady who writes it, has the most amazing eye for colour and a charming way of describing the ups and downs of being busy with little ones. She also takes the most amazing photos - wish I could make mine look half as good.....

She is also an avid crocheter and has come up with a number of simple patterns that make use of bold colours and are quick and easy to whip up into something rather fabulous. One of these is a 'bucket bag' - I've been wanting to make one of these for my Mum for what seems like forever.....in fact, I think I bought the cotton late last summer! Anyway, with an impending trip to the Grandparents approaching fast (two weeks to go - Miss A is sooo excited to be going on a plane, I can't tell you!), I thought it was time to get started. Pretty colours (I actually added a ball of white and a ball of dark pink to these after the photo was taken):

I've almost finished the base of the bag, but can't show you any pictures as a) I just discovered this morning that the camera battery is flat (god, I'm so organised sometimes, it kills me!) and b) I wouldn't be able to take a decent picture, because it's chucking it down.......scuse me? It's August - you shouldn't have to put the heating on in August!

P.S. While I was mooching around the net looking for Lucy's blog this morning, I stumbled on this fab website - it's where I got my lovely new 'shabby' blog background - pretty, pretty!

July's socks

Some of you might remember that, a few months back, I decided to follow the Yarn Harlot and set up my own personal monthly 'project club' - I set up a bag containing various smaller bags with the yarn and pattern already paired together. The theory was that, each time I finished a project, I would pull another one from 'the bag' at random....I will be honest and admit that the contents have been 'tampered with' a little - I've switched some patterns around. This is partly because my focus has switched slightly from socks to shawls - must be thoughts of Christmas being not that far away now.....

One of the projects that got 'substituted' was this pair of socks:

I'm really, really chuffed with these - for several reasons:

a) they only took 2.5 weeks, which when you think that they were mainly knit on the bus to / from work, is really not bad going

b) point a is even more amazing when you consider that they are made from a Cookie A pattern (Angee to be precise) - while I love Cookie's patterns, they are definitely not 'easy' socks and often require a lot of concentration (and some swearing at various points!)

c) I don't think the photos are doing them complete justice, but the colour is just gawgeous - the yarn is Colinette Jitterbug and the colourway is Morello Mash - says it all really! I had popped into my local yarn store (Loop, in Islington) to check out their new premises - and had been completely powerless to resist this gorgeous bit of squishyness - I cast on only two days later, which is unheard of in my world lol!

This is definitely one of my favourite colours - in fact, when I went to put the finished pair into my sock drawer (yes, I now have drawer specifically for handknit socks!) I realised that I had already made two pairs in a similar colour - predictable, me?

P.S. Update on the Knit-a-Square crochet-thon - 25 squares shipped off to South Africa this morning! Wonder if I can do better in August?

A busy life......

.....leaves very little time for blogging! No seriously, I can't apologise enough. Life really is very full these days.

A quick snapshot of the last six weeks or so:

- the new job is going well and looks set to last until at least September

- Miss A is enjoying spending more time with her Granny (who picks her up from nursery these days, as I can't any longer), but is still refusing to sleep in her own bed....

- Mr A and I took ourselves off to Spain for a week in mid-June (without Miss A who was looked after by my parents). Total bliss - long lie-ins, good food & wine, lots of sunbathing and book-reading - just what we needed. No photos I'm afraid as I deliberately didn't take my camera!

- we've all be suffering a little in the recent heatwave. I personally wouldn't mind it, if only I didn't have to sit in a hot, sticky bus for an hour each evening.......bleurgh!

- Miss A has just acquired her first pair of ballet shoes and leotard:

Can't wait to see what happens during her first class next Saturday.

- Mr A and I are in the throes of planning our joint 40th birthday party this weekend. We've discovered FOURTEEN bottles of champagne in the cellar......raspberry belinis anyone?

On the crafting front, the heat has pretty much scuppered most attempts at playing with wool, but I have managed a few things. While on holiday, I finally managed to make some progress on the Solid Socks May Mystery socks - those cables almost did my head in.....but I'm very, very pleased with the result:

I have also once again been completely taken over by the crochet bug - I can't express how much I love this particular craft. It's portable, doesn't require as much concentration as my knitting, and gives super quick results. I whipped up this little beauty in just under a week:

Partly due to the heat, and partly due to a recent urgent call by Knit-A-Square for over 55,000 squares by September, I'm devoting most of my free time to making granny squares:

These are just a few of the 35+ squares that I've managed to whip since the beginning of July. I'm hoping to send several large bags before the autumn. And it's a great way of using up scraps / spare wool! Talking of leftovers, I happened to mentioned this little 'project' to a colleague of mine and she mentioned that she had starting making a crochet blanket a few months ago, but got bored. So yesterday, I took delivery of this:

70 part-completed squares
and 15 very large balls of wool

Should keep me quiet for a while, no?

New job!

I went for two interviews this week - one was a bit of a disaster as I strangely got very nervous. Thankfully, the 2nd one went well - and I heard today that they want me to start on Monday! Whee! Now don't get too excited - it's a temporary role, so far only guaranteed until the end of June. Having said that, it's a proper marketing role and it's with a professional services firm, so I shall be back where I belong in every sense of the word. I'm really looking forward to it - and even better, guess what I get to see out of the office window?

Yep! The Tower of London! And look where I get to spend my lunch break

St. Katherine's Dock - let's just hope there's lots of nice weather in the next few weeks.

One good thing about all the travelling I've done to and from interviews? I've finished a pair of socks - of course, they don't quite match.....

On the left, we have some rather gorgeous Koigu made up using the Charade pattern - I've christened these my Sugar Plum Fairy socks as I think the colours reflect what she would have worn (yes, I'm prone to girly flights of fancy occasionally). On the left, we have the Knitting Goddess's April sock yarn club using a cloverleaf and double eyelet rib. April's sock yarn also coincided with Easter - so the colourway was Speckled Egg - for that particular month, I got the luxury option (80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon). Amazingly soft and a dream to knit with.....

I'm also solidering on with May 2010 Mystery sock by Cynthia Levy - cables, cables and more cables. This is possibly the most complicated pattern I have attempted so far - and I can only do about four rows at a time before my shoulder/wrist starts hurting. Still, I am enjoying it (in a slightly masochistic way) - and I'm really happy that I have finally found a suitable pattern for this gorgeous merino/tencel that I hand-dyed last summer - about time too! The picture shows the first sock done to the end of Clue 2 - but Clue 3 comes out tomorrow, which means I'm already a week behind...

Another month...

Oh my....I really have no excuse for not blogging for a whole month, apart from the usual madness that a normal, busy(ish) life brings with it.

Let's get some major news out of the way first: I am now unemployed again. Yes, you've got it right....Two weeks ago, I realised that the new job was just not working out in any sense of the word. I was in tears almost every weekend at the idea of going back in, and could feel myself getting very, very depressed. I'm not prepared to go back to that horrible place so, after much discussion with the wonderful Mr. A, I tendered my resignation. On the minus side, I feel a bit guilty for not sticking it out (but not that much to be honest). On the plus side, I now know that I never want to work for central government ever again, and I also have a much better idea of what kind of job I DO want to do. I've been much more focused / targeted in my job search and I already have an interview scheduled for next week, so it's looking good.

This all means that I've had some 'spare' time to make sure that Mr A's 40th birthday was celebrated in style. Here is my card:

And here is one that Miss A helped with:

There has also (surprise, surprise!), been much knitting and crocheting. Mr A has expressed some concern about how 'obsessive' I can get with this - he doesn't understand that, in times of high stress and trauma, it's a bit like curling up on the sofa under a snuggly blanket - you just get much prettier things at the end of it!

Back in early April, I finally succumbed and bought this from Amazon:

I've wanted it for some time, and having recently rediscovered my love of crochet squares, I decided it was time. The day that it came in the mail, I also found out that some very good friends of ours were expecting their first baby in early May. Cue some rather large fireworks going off inside my brain.....Several of the squares in the book are named after flowers, so I decided to make them a 'Summer Flowers' baby blanket in rainbow colours. The squares for this blanket will be 6" square - and I need 63 squares in total.

Miss A and I therefore headed off to the local wool shop, and came home with all these balls of machine-wash DK wool:More than enough I think.....in fact, it was just as well that I did buy so much, because when Miss A discovered that the blanket was not going to be for her, she was most upset. So call me a glutton for punishment, I went and started a SECOND blanket for her. This will be using the same 'rainbow concept' but with different patterns for the squares:

These squares will be 8" square - and I need 100 squares. Ermmm, do you think I have maybe bitten off a bit more than I can chew? So far, I have done all the white, yellow and orange squares (plus a few trial ones that didn't work out but which will go to Knit-A-Square instead). Pictures soon, I promise!

I also have knitting to show you, but Miss A is now demanding some attention, so I will leave those projects for the next post.