The week has already started badly with the news that one of the babies I was knitting for has died before birth, devastating news for the family concerned.
This has been followed by two days training on working with sex offenders which has sparked lots of chaotic thoughts that I will need to get to grips with.
I now have 3 days in the office and then a week's holiday. I'm off for a few days with family and then Matt and I are heading north to Glasgow where I'm looking forward to meeting up with old friends at the SECC. I'm hoping that I will get some fresh air, gentle exercise and plenty of quiet knitting time
It's been a funny week, my body and brain appear to have been wandering in different directions!
On Monday I managed to lose 2dpns on the way to work so at lunchtime I wandered down to IKL for replacements.
On Tuesday night I went along to IKL to meet friends, including Louise on a visit from Yorkshire. As I wandered along Lower Marsh I realised I'd left my camera at work.
On Wednesday I intended to go to IKL but didn't make it as I wandered through the maze of computers / servers at the office trying to find out where the data I'd just spent hours entering had gone.
Thursday saw me head off to IKL to meet Arianwen and witness her reunion with Cherie (after 18 years), yet again no camera! Where is my memory these days?
Friday was a day at home trying to tackle some chores. I'd booked the day off to attend a medical appointment only to discover that it was for the Saturday.
Saturday I wandered down the High Street to go to the opticians only to discover I had the time wrong and I had an extra hour to kill - this in a High Street that is dying! There are banks, pubs, cafes and charity shops so I wandered into a couple of them and came away with
Wonder if I can work out how to use it without any instructions?
Then came the joy of these ranging from 1967 - 1987
I was unable to appreciate them until today when my eyes finally came back into focus after yesterday's procedure. There are some classic gems that I'm thinking about trying to upsize and that doily would look good as a shawl - what do you think?
Wonder if this week will be an improvement?
I'm back from my short break in Brighton - it's always good to meet up with other knitters and to visit my Aunt (excellent B+B!)
I must have been sleepwalking when I left on Friday morning as I ended up taking the malabrigo socks; a ball of quiviet/silk; yarn hand dyed by Wibbo and a project bag containing some yarn bought at I Knit the night before!
I had two folders of patterns with me for inspiration... so what did I buy?
Acrylic baby yarn (chunky, cream and a very good price from Black Sheep ) and a ball of 100% polyester Pompon.
Guess what I knitted with?
The Pompon! It was addictive, I just wanted to do another row of 12 stitches that encapsulated 6 squishy pompoms.
Part of the reason I went to the show was to see this
and I was pleased to note that the wishing well had plenty of coins thrown in it!
This week has felt a very long one with the daily journeys to work a major challenge. Today was a holiday day and I'd planned to spend the afternoon mooching around the shops in search of birthday presents for one of my sisters and my niece.
The journey into London went smoothly and I came out of Charing Cross into the middle of a protest by the London Cab drivers. Shopping plans were abandoned and I walked over to I Knit London for some sanity.
Home again early to pack for my expedition to Brighton in the morning - snow and ice willing. The clothes packing took 5 minutes but I'm still dithering about the knitting 2 hours later. The jackets have got to the too large to carry stage and not yet to the off the needles stage - I was hoping to have one of them to wear.
I have baby blankets to knit but am not inspired by those at present. I have lace waiting to be knit but have difficulty reading charts on the train. I have a sock started but it's a demo one for a colleagues lesson and I need to wait for her to catch up before we move on to the next stage.
I know I will see yarn at the show and probably buy something so what size needles do I need to take, do I need a hook, what about patterns?
I thought my packing would be simple after I made the decision to leave all the technology behind, no laptop, chargers, ipods etc
So I'm going with the mystery kit idea - I've prepared 3 workbags, each containing yarn, appropriate needles and pattern and later this morning when I leave at the crack of dawn I'll just grab a bag and not open it until I'm on the train.
Want to guess what it will be?
Photo heavy post coming up!
First here's a shot of the fabric I'm getting for Rachel's jacket
I'm on sleeve island with it now and the recent snowfall is the impetus I needed to get moving with it!
It's been a long standing misconception that I can't knit socks - not true - it's just that it hurts my hands to work on anything that small for any length of time. Last week one of my colleagues asked me to give her a lesson in sock knitting so I cast on this
it was put to further use on Thursday night at I Knit London when I got asked to help a group of actors learning to knit socks and gloves for a play due to start at the Old Vic in the next few weeks. Needless to say no more work has been done on it since Thursday night.
A few weeks ago I entered Liz's blog contest and won this magnificent skein of yarn and some of Wibbo's stitchmarkers - the colours are fantastic
Finally - Today is officially Snow Day with no buses or trains I can't get to work. I ventured out for a short while to take some photos and am now back indoors having sent Matt off on a supermarket run.
This is a neighbours Pampas grass
the hydreangas
and the fence
time to go and make the hot chocolate!