My latest knits

I've finished my Debbie Bliss t-shirt from Summer Essentials. I knitted it in Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere which is beautiful to knit with and doesn't split much unlike some other cotton or cotton mix yarns. I really enjoyed knitting this and have even stitched it up almost immediately which is very unusual for me. I started it on Tuesday July 10th and finished it on Thursday 26th July and stitched it up today.

My second knit this week has been this little pair of Ruffle Rib Socks from Interweave Knits Summer 2005. I made them with scraps of leftover sock yarn. They are for a young mum-to-be at my local SnB.

I've started and finished Calorimetry and Fetching this week. I love the pattern for Fetching and will definitely be making some more of these as gifts for Christmas.

My Calorimetry was knitted in the leftovers from a hank of Debbie Biss Maya (the multicoloured part) and finished with leftover 100% wool Celtic Aran. I wasn't sure how this would work out but I'm pleased with the finished result.

My Fetchings were made using Jaeger Merino Aran with a scraps of lilac mohair/wool mix aran. I used the lilac aran as a contrast as I didn't think the one ball of Jaeger I had would be enough and I'm glad I did as I've just the tiniest bit of the Jaeger leftover.

Tour de France opening ceremony and prologue

Here's my race report for the Tour de France knitalong.
I made it to London on Friday for the opening ceremony of the Tour de France. We set off at 11.30ish but the traffic was bad so we didn't arrive at our hotel in Edgware (north london) until 4.15pm. Just time to freshen up before our tube trip to Trafalgar Square. We met up with my son who works in London for www.cycling.tv who are covering the Tour de France on their website. Most of the cheers/applause was for the British riders, David Millar, Charlie Wigelius, Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish. However, Alexandre Vinokourov, Michael Rasmussen, Oscar Pereiro, the lovely Tom Boonen, Christophe Moreau and of course Robbie McEwan were all very popular. We ended a great evening with a veggie curry from Ravi Shankars near Euston station.

Saturday morning we made our way to Hyde Park for the prologue, an 8K time trial around central London, taking in Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Wellington Arch etc... We arrived about 11.30am and bagged a spot just before Wellington Arch so we could see the riders come the full length up Constitution Hill. It was a long day (finished at 6.15pm) and I had very tired ankles and legs but it was worth it. The caravan came through first with all the assorted freebies (junk) and some of the riders were warming up in amongst the caravan so that was great. For all you Robbie Mc fans, (in the Tour de France knitalong) he rode past us a couple of times warming up. The actual time trial started at 3pm and the weather couldn't have been better- beautifully sunny with just an occassional light cooling breeze. Time trials are great because you get to see each rider individually. I am a huge Tom Boonen fan so it was great to see him racing again (saw him last at the Tour of Britain last year) and I am also a real Iban Mayo fan (last seen at Dauphine Libre in 2004), but it was also great to see some of the other riders that I've never see in the flesh before, like Alexandre Vinokourov and Jens Voigt. I would have liked David Millar or Bradley Wiggins to win the prologue but it was good to see Cancellara get it. He did an amazing ride - way faster than anyone else. It was a pity Stewie O'Grady came off but he's a hard chap and I'm sure he's recovered by now.

We were planning to go to Tower Bridge on Sunday but never made it - too tired after Saturday so we had a lie in.

Hope your all enjoying the tour and the knitalong- got to go now to watch TdF on Eurosport

Tour de France Knitalong

I've joined the Tour de France Knitalong! What a great idea! I love cycling. The Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta Espana dictate much of the activity in our household. We even have themed days for different cycling events eg for the Tour of Flanders we eat Belgium food and drink Belgium beer!

I've decided to knit for the yellow jersey and my project is a retro cycling style jacket in either Molteni or Bianchi team colours. I've just got to sort out a suitable pattern, adjust it, and chart the designs before next saturday.

I'm still here

Well it's been a long time since I updated here. I just don't seem to have had the time. I've done some knitting but not as much as I would have liked to. I was hoping to have a few of my UFO's finished by the end of June. I've a few things that just need an hour or two's work to be done. Unfortunately I damaged my left wrist about three weeks ago (an allotmenteering related injury) and can only really manage a few rows at a time even on light/smal projects like socks.


I finished my ladies lacy socks (a Sue Morgan pattern) in Trekking XXL. I'm very pleased with these. They are going in my present box for Christmas. I've also knitted a pair of spa socks from Knit1 Spring 2007. These are my second pair of spa socks and will probably not be my last. I have very cold feet and like socks for in bed and these are perfect for bed





H's aran sweater is just about done. I'm just stitching up the sleeve seams and side seams.

I also finished the empire style top I was knitting in Wendy Mode DK - this is for display for the shop and is now in the window. I'm very pleased with it and the yarn was lovely and soft to work with.

Spring Things Shawl

I started my Spring Things Shawl on 4th May. I joined the For me?! knitalong and was looking for a lacy shawl pattern and found this one. This led to me joining the Spring Things knitalong as well. I'm a complete knitalong addict. Anyway, as I said I started the shawl on 4th May and wasn't too happy with it - I just didn't seem to have the pattern right. I took it to last Tuesday's Stitch 'n Bitch and persisted with it on the Wednesday morning but on Thursday decided enough was enough and ripped it back. I started again on Friday and despite dropping a stitch and having to go back a full pattern repeat on Saturday afternoon I have actually managed to make it to 9 pattern repeats of the upper body pattern. The shawl looks quite small although it does stretch out quite a lot. I've decided to knit 17 repeats of the upper body pattern instead of 13 because I am using 3.25mm needles instead of the recommended 3.75mm ones and feel it may turn out very small otherwise.

I was originally going to dye the shawl once I'd finished it (I'm using undyed Blue Faced Leicester/nylon lace weight yarn) but I love the creamy naturallness of the yarn so much I'm going to leave it as it is. I've also found some lovely cream glass beads which look great with it!

I absolutely love the pattern and have already been considering the yarn for my next one.

Red, Red, Robin

I've been feeling pretty stressed over the last month or so due to one thing and another. Yesterday I was feeling a little more chilled but still a bit frowny so I decided to get myself along to the allotment last night for some fresh air and exercise. I managed about an hour and a half before it started to get a bit dusky. I don't see so well around dusk - not bad when it's actually nightime but that in between bit between day and night is difficult for me. I managed to dig out more mares tail, which I expect I will be doing for the rest of my life. I also had a friend on the plot last night - a lovely little robin. He followed me around the plot, wherever I went he was there, and when I left he stayed on my plot, just sat and watched me go. I've lot's of wild bird food at home so I'm going to take some to the plot tonight for the Robin.

At Stitch 'n Bitch on Tuesday evening I finished the first sleeve of H's sweater. I'm going to cast on the second one today and try to have the sweater finished this weekend. I was also working on my handpainted gloves but I'm having trouble with the fingers. I've decided to knit both main parts and then do all the fingers at once - not sure if that's a good plan really! I'm also trying to finish two socks to match the two singles I have. I need to have them finished by Saturday evening to keep on target for the 52 pair plunge.