Destined for something lacy… all will be revealed!

No, it’s not Friday. Even though over Christmas I completely lose track of the days and have no idea where I am in the week. I’m just catching up on the inspiration posts for the UK Swap.

What is your favourite way of keeping your feet warm?
Handknitted socks! Though sometimes even they can’t keep my feet wam enough. I should make some alpaca bedsocks like the ones I made for my grandma:

Do you have a favourite pair of socks you reach for to keep your toes toasty?
Usually whichever ones are clean. All of them are lovely to wear.

Is there a pair of socks/slippers you have been wanting to make for ages but haven’t got around to?
Probably too many to mention! Looking through my Ravelry queue, I have the Norwegian Stockings and Laila’s Socks (both by Nancy Bush) lined up, so I think I have a hankering for colourwork socks at the moment.

What is your favourite finished object that warms your feet?
I rarely knit socks for myself. Of the few that I do have, I guess my current favourites are the Clover socks:

The yarn I used, Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Ultra Solid Colors, is divine.

What is your favourite yarn to use for socks/slippers
It’s boring, but I love Trekking XXL and Opal. I do like the ability to handwash socks wherever possible, but I am a complete sucker for any squishy yarn that won’t last five minutes but feels wonderful on my feet.

I’ve just about recovered from the past few days. I have been eating far too much and yet there are still cakey things untouched in the freezer. I’ll be forcing those on anyone I meet for the next few days, I suspect.

But enough about my expanding waistline and on to nicer things. I have pressies! Firstly, Diane popped over on Christmas Eve and she gave me these:

The photo on her blog is much nicer (and you can download the pattern from there as well), and you can’t see just how nicely they fit me and appreciate the snugness and warmness; even warmer than my Selbuvotter mittens. They are made with her own handspun and hand-dyed BFL and Shetland wool. This makes me realise that I am never going to be as clever as her and should just stick with knitting stuff.

Then lovely Kai sent me some PURPLE gloves. The pattern is Knotty Gloves by Julia Mueller (sorry, Ravelry-only link) and they are knitted with soft and very warm Fleece Artist Somoko.

On top of that, I have a skein of her beautiful handspun bamboo yarn. It’s 12 wpi and 167m long, so I’m hoping to get a lovely scarf from it to show it off to the world.

There’s no reason for me *not* to have warm hands now. On Saturday we went down to Brighton for a walk on the beach to blow away the cobwebs and get out of the house and I couldn’t decide which pair to wear. In the end, I took both and wore the gloves in the morning and the mittens in the afternoon.

Torta alla Gianduia, aka Nutella Cake, from How to be a Domestic Goddess

A final slice of cakey goodness before I disappear for a few days.

Next week I will be back blogging, possibly with lovely gifts to share and definitely a couple of pounds heavier. All this baking has to be eaten by someone, after all… Happy Christmas to everyone!

I cheerfully admit that for a cake decorator, I’d make a good bricklayer. One day I’d like to do a fancy sugarcraft course and make dainty flowers and swans and do painfully smooth royal icing and stuff, but for now, my hamfisted approach works fine, especially when the cake inside is what I’m *most* interested in.

My “decoration” is made up of blobs of ready-to-roll icing in various colours and a bit of writing icing for the features. Note the fetching “handknitted” scarf and hat. Even penguins can’t escape my festive knits.

It’s possibly a little early to start looking back at the past year’s knitting achievements, but as I know there won’t be any more FOs until 2009, I can at least start looking back at My Year of Lace.

1. Baltic Blossoms Shawl, 2. Birch Leaf Socks, 3. Beth, 4. Swallowtail Shawl, 5. Peacock Feathers Shawl, 6. Large Rectangle in Leaf and Trellis pattern, 7. Mystery Shawl – Clue 2, 8. Clover Cuff, 9. Wild Strawberry, 10. Matilda Shawl detail, 11. Ene’s Scarf, 12. Leaf Lace Scarf, 13. Ingrid, 14. Pablo, 15. Ivy Socks

I would have liked to have knitted more, of course. I think I’ve found the solution to getting as many shawls done as possible, though: make them 4ply triangular nuppy things and they take 4 days each. I wonder how long it would be until I got just a bit bored of knitting them, though..!

I also wish I had finished the Mystery Shawl. That is back on hiatus as it did prove impossible to concentrate on it when there are so many other things that need doing. Mainly cakes. But I’m still hopeful that it won’t end up being frogged and forgotten about.

On the positive side, I am happy that I managed to knit one pattern from Victorian Lace Today. I adore this book and feel very guilty that I haven’t knitted more patterns from it. Though the same also applies to all the other lace books I have.

My favourite projects this year were Ene’s Scarf (because the yarn is divine and it’s keeping me toasty warm this winter), Swallowtail (because I lost my nupp virginity and it wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it would be) and probably the Leaf Lace Scarf (because it’s just my favourite pattern).

I already have a lacy project lined up for the New Year, which I’ll write about after the final mince pie is eaten and the turkey leftovers have all gone.

Do you have a favourite FO?
Currently the Beth scarf I knitted my grandma for Christmas. I love the fact that it’s so light and floaty, yet is still a warm fabric.

I prefer thinner scarves because they’re less bulk under my coat. I’ve been wearing my Ene’s Scarf from Scarf Stylea lot this winter as well.

What is your favourite neck warming pattern?
Probably the Lace Leaf Scarf by Shirley Paden from Vogue Knitting. I’ve knitted this a couple of times and just love the way the pattern forms. It’s not the style of scarf I’d usually wear myself, but I think it’s gorgeous.

Is there a style of neck warmer you particularly like?
I like wearing triangular shawls as scarves as there’s lots to tuck in and keep me warm. I’m not so keen on thick bulky rectangular scarves.

Mr B brought me a present home the other day:

I once had them all on video back in the day, but never got around to replacing them when we went all modern with a dvd player.

So in the midst of all the hassle and stress of cooking far too many mince pies and cookies because everyone will starve otherwise, I’ve had a few quiet minutes in the company of a saggy old cloth cat.

Pattern: Baltic Blossoms Shawl by Evelyn Clark
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Solid in “Cranberry”, 2 x 50g skeins
Needles: 4mm circs, possibly bamboo, but can’t remember…

I have Kay to thank for this pattern. After finishing the Swallowtail Shawl, I wanted to knit another pattern in a similar style for someone deserving of shawly goodness who I hadn’t yet made one for. She suggested the Baltic Blossoms pattern, which was perfect. Nupps and a non-repetitve lace pattern, just like Swallowtail, but not the same. I didn’t stick totally to the pattern, I confess. I didn’t like the edging on the original shawl, so I just subbed with the Swallowtail edging, which worked perfectly, and gave me some pointyness. I switched the first nupp pattern repeat for beads and added a bead to each point of the edging as well, though I don’t think they show too well in the photo.

Like Swallowtail, this pattern was a quick, four-day knit. Though that was also because I worked exclusively on the shawl and didn’t spend all day on the internet.

The yarn colour is perfect for Kai. I wanted something rich and a bit wintery and if the yarn colour is called “Cranberry”, it’s just crying out to become a Christmas present, don’t you think? I bought three skeins of yarn “just in case”, so still have one to play with. I suspect I’ll add it to my growing collection of yarns-for-mittens…

Chocolate Christmas Cookies from Nigella Christmas

After cooking for eight people on Sunday, I’ve been left with the washing up; Mr B having escaped by conveniently working away from home for the next few days. So I figured I may as well add to the mountain. These cookies are for the small people to nibble while the rest of us enjoy the mince pies.

This meme has been appearing on several of the blogs I read, including Kai’s and Diane’s. Originally from the Big Read, they reckon most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books on the list. Let’s see, shall we?

Instructions
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Underline those you intend to read.
3) Italicise the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them (this would include Mr B – I actually suspect he wouldn’t make it to 6…).

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien (I never get past the party at the beginning of the first book. Coincidentally, that’s about the time I fall asleep each time I attempt to watch the film)
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte (this is my favourite book of all time; people who hate it just don’t understand it. I should write a whole blog post about how great it is sometime.)
8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye – J D Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot (I read this after watching the BBC dramatisation in the mid-nineties, and think Mr Causabon was completely miscast; he was almost dishy compared to the book version)
21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy (up to page 26 and then I gave up.)
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne (I keep trying to make the small people read this, but they’re corrupted by the Disneyfied Pooh and therefore think it will be crap)
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown (I read this in a day laying on a sunbed in Portugal. I will never get that day back)
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (no, but I *have* read The Blind Assassin)
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel (see 42, except that it wasn’t so much of a waste of time. Still a bit meh, though)
52. Dune – Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons (I own this but have never read it)
54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold (though the ending feels like it’s written with one eye on a movie version…)
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy (That particular scene is even harder to read now I have small people *sniffle*)
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73.The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson (and every other book BB has written; his book about America beats Stephen Fry’s, which makes me feel bad because SF is one of my heroes, but there you have it)
75. Ulysses – James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro (the film is one of my favourites, but I’ve never been able to get into the book and really want to)
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

34/100. I need to knit less and read more. Though I have read books that aren’t on there by authors that are, which makes me feel less of an ignorant bunny.

The first of my Friday Inspiration posts as part of the UK Swap.

Until very recently, I’d never knitted mittens. In fact, I’d never really knitted any handwarmers at all, save for a pair of Voodoo Wristwarmers for my sister. So this is a hard topic for me to write an interesting post on.

My first mittens were from the Selbuvotter book:

I used RYC Cashsoft 4ply in cream and black, which makes for nice soft mittens. They are like little works of art and I often just admire and pet them because I can’t quite believe I am so clever to have knitted them.

I’d like to have the confidence to use interesting combinations of colours in a pair of mittens, other than just black and white. These and these mittens, for example, are beautiful.

Edited because I completely forgot about the Endpaper Mitts I made.

I gave these ones away as a gift, and always intended to knit some more, but never got around to it.

Pattern: Basic Regia freebie sock pattern leaflet thing
Yarn: Annell Super Extra, 2 x 50g balls in shade #2988
Needles: 2.5mm KnitPicks circs

I don’t actually know where my Regia freebie pattern is right now, but I have knit so many pairs of plain manly socks using this pattern that I don’t really need it anyway. You really can’t beat plain socks in interesting yarn for quick present knitting. This is the third pair of Christmas socks I have made for Mr B, as well, so does this now count as a tradition?

The yarn is from Belgium, I believe. Diane gave it to me along with some manly Trekking XXL in exchange for some Louet Fingering Weight which I bought ages ago with the intention of knitting manly socks, only to realise that pure wool socks won’t last five minutes! It’s very much like Opal and Trekking; possibly softer than Opal, but should be hardwearing with the nylon content.

After casting the second sock off, I felt strangely empty. Each year the festive knitting seems to take over my life for a couple of months and I seem to be constantly tense and stressed that I won’t meet the deadline and will be knitting at 3am one day in order to finish it. And then it’s done and now the world is my knitting oyster and I need someone to tell me what to make next. The shawl will keep me occupied for a while, anyway, until I reach a decision.

Now that the festive knitting is done, bar the blocking, I’m not in the mood to think about starting anything new quite yet. And it’s not as if I don’t have several unfinished projects languishing in my knitting bag. So I chose the one I feel most guilty about. *blushes*

Like everyone else who took part, I started the Anniversary Mystery Shawl knitalong back in June. The clues were released weekly, and for the first couple of weeks, I kept on track and was feeling all pleased with myself. Even when I frogged it and restarted with entirely different patterns, I didn’t get far behind. Then birthday present knitting took over in July and August and after knitting two huge shawls, I wanted a break from dainty lace. Then of course there was festive knitting and this poor shawl just got completely neglected. So much so that the pattern is not even very mysterious any more, and has been released to be bought by anyone who fancies it.

When I rescued it from obscurity on the weekend, I was just a few rounds from the end of Clue 3, which I easily finished off that day. But now Clue 4 is to be tackled. On the suggestion of a wiser knitter, I have put in stitch markers to separate each 48 stitch pattern repeat to make sure that I don’t mess up, something which I never usually do but probably should (put in stitch markers, I mean – I do mess up quite frequently!). With over five hundred stitches on the needle, it doesn’t make for great photography, sadly.

It’s not exactly mindless knitting for picking up at odd moments over the Christmas break, and I suspect that there’ll be another new project to tempt me very soon. But for now, I am dedicated to mysterious knitting and can feel smug that the project has had the “zzz” removed on my Ravelry project page.

I’ve just come online to see some very sad news. If you’re a British person of a certain age like, me, you’ll probably have grown up watching Bagpuss, Ivor The Enginge and The Clangers. All these, and other programmes, were created and narrated by the lovely Oliver Postgate, who has died aged 83. He had the most wonderful voice and whenever I saw him interviewed on TV he seemed to have retained a lovely, almost childlike, enthusiasm for playing around with puppets and making silly voices.

I hope the BBC considers showing some old episodes of his programmes, as I think this would be the perfect way to remember a lovely, creative man.

I like giving Christmas presents early, especially when I get a present in return. More about my pressie in a minute. Firstly, I can reveal a little bit of secret knitting:

Pattern: Birch Leaf Socks by Nancy Bush from A Gathering of Lace
Yarn: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in “Pacific”, 1 x 100g skein
Needles: 2mm Susan Bate Silvalume dpns

With only forty-five finished projects on Ravelry, this is one of the few obscure Nancy Bush sock patterns, possibly because it’s tucked away at the back of a book of delicious lace shawls that it doesn’t get the attention it deserves. I loved knitting these socks. Even on the tiny needles, it was quick to work and I think is a lovely pattern for a special gift.

It helped that the yarn is delicious. It’s my first try of this yarn; I chose it initially because I thought the colour was Diane-ish (it is), not variegated so would show off the stitch pattern, and the meterage is fantastic (so no worry about running out of yarn). But after using it, I want to buy more! It’s sproingy, doesn’t split and did I mention the meterage?!

So, I gave Diane her Nancy Bush designed socks. And she gave me a Nancy Bush designed book:

And inside:

(Nancy Bush wrote my name! And touched this book!)

If you read Diane’s blog, you might have noticed that she mentioned some sort of trip that she and Kai went on a few weeks ago. Apparently it wasn’t very exciting at all. No, it was brilliant and they got to meet Nancy Bush herself and because they are lovely and wonderful (like Nancy) they brought me back a signed copy of her book!

I’ve already planned my first project, of which more after Christmas knitting is rounded up. But for now, I am just going to curl up on the sofa and read lacy patterns.

Fifty-eight Fifty-seven tiny mince pies (well, I had to try one!), each one barely a mouthful and therefore calorie-free, possibly.

The mincemeat comes from a jar, but the pastry recipe is from an old Sainsbury’s magazine and makes the BEST pastry for mince pies: slightly sweet and crumbly.

Now I just have to freeze them before Mr B comes home and wants to have his own taste sample.

I love buying lots of sparkly ribbons and bows and paper and wrapping Christmas presents. With the music channels on TV showing non-stop Christmas music videos to help with the festive mood, I sat down a wrapped presents for a couple of hours over lunch today and now feel very much better than I did yesterday. Added to which, Mr B’s present has arrived and I’ve got mince pie making day to look forward to tomorrow.

Just one sock to go and then the festive knitting is finished. These are Mr B’s (note that they’re Magic Looped!), so at least I have up to Christmas Eve to get them done (in theory!).

I’m still waiting on a couple of presents that are coming by post, which is slightly frustrating. I had to dash out this morning to find a tank top for eldest small person who is having a World War II day at school on Friday and needs to dress as an evacuee, something which he decided to save telling me until yesterday. Which meant I was worried about missing the postie and having to go out again tomorrow to the sorting office and the shops are crowded and I always manage to get to the tram stop just as my tram is leaving and then having to run for the bus at the other end. After all that, I was home before the postie came and nothing important arrived!

At least I managed to buy a few more gifts for people not getting knitted presents. I’m almost done now with those, which is a nice feeling. I miss being a small person and just having to open my advent calendar and be excited for the big day. There’s so much to organise and get ready and I probably do put too much pressure on myself to do things instead of just choosing the lazy option. Like making the mince pies and having two home made puddings with dinner next weekend.

This afternoon I’m planning to knit for a couple of hours (though it’s just under two hours til I have to go and fetch the small people…) and drink tea and be calm.

Handmade Item Swap
What kind of items are you interested in receiving?
Scarf, mittens or socks.

Do you knit, crochet, or both?
I knit. My crochet is so bad that it’s scarcely worth mentioning. Except that I just did.

What is your favourite colour?
PURPLE!!!

What is your least favourite colour?
Yellow.

What’s your style? (elegant, traditional, glamorous, girly, natural, sporty, outgoing, etc.)
Introverted couch potato?

Do you have a favourite type of fibre or brand of yarn?
Wool or alpaca. Not being presumptuous, but if I was to receive socks, I’d rather they were knitted with a machine washable yarn so that they last as long as possible. I seem to get holes in them much quicker than normal people…

Do you have a least favourite type of yarn?
Acrylic. Oh, and possum, the Yarn of Death.

Do you do any other crafts?
I make exceedingly good cakes.

Are there any knitting accessories you are interested in receiving?
Other than a complete set of KnitPicks Harmony Interchangeables? I’d like some sort of widget to help keep my place when I’m using mitten charts. Post-It Notes remove ink, I have discovered.

What do you like to eat?
Chocolate, but I’d rather not receive any as it’ll tempt me away from the path of goodness. Actually, right now I have a craving for Licorice Allsorts, except the round ones with bobbles on because they are evil.

Any allergies/preferences (fibre-wise or treat-wise)?
None at all.

Anything we missed that you’d like your partner to know?
I am truly very easy to please!

Pattern: Ivy, by me!
Yarn: Opal Uni 4ply, 1 x 100g ball in shade #1266
Needles: set of 5 2mm dpns

An early Christmas present for you all. Earlier in the year I designed these socks and decided that it was about time that I published the pattern! It’s a simple cable and lace sock, very summery (I knitted them in May and June!) and hopefully will banish some of the winter blues.

Find the FREE pattern here or on my Ravelry page.

Okay, I know that today isn’t actually the first day of Christmas. But as far as I’m concerned, the countdown definitely starts now! With only 24 knitting days left until The Big Day, I have two presents to finish, and my knitting time in December is considerably reduced as I’m also trying to make enough food to feed an army just in case someone mentions they are a bit peckish, possibly. This week, amongst other things, I’m going to be making four dozen mini mince pies to be stashed away in the freezer, safely away from Mr B.

So although I’m not thinking about knitting anything else right now til my gifts are done, the Garnstudio Christmas Calendar 2008 might give me some ideas for the future. I won’t spoil the surprise behind the first window, but I’m wondering whether there’s enough time to make one each for the entire family. And as I’m clearly heading towards the hysterical phase of festive knitting, I’m off to actually knit and drink a lot of tea.