Awesomely autumnal socks.

Oh socks, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1) You're cashmere and silk, and handpainted and beautiful

2) When I started knitting, sock 1 was the perfect colour for autumn leaves and made me feel better about the coming winter. Seasonal knitting is perfection. (I know sock 2 is a different colour. That's because they're made from handpainted yarn.) Sock 2 is the perfect colour for autumn.

3) You fit. Beautifully.

And, erm, yeah. I love you to squishy pieces, socks, and I am desperate for the heatwave to end so that I have an excuse to wear you.

The yarn is Eva 4ply in crabapple from http://www.poshyarn.co.uk and the pattern is Falling Leaves from Knitty, but with the addition of a twisted rib cuff because I have fat legs even when I'm not pregnant.

Labour of love

These pictures are here primarily for blackmail purpose. I wasted 6 hours of my life on tidying my sons' bedrooms, throwing away large quantities of lost/ broken and disassembled toys, and I swear, I have never felt quite so awful in all my life. These pictures are here as the before shot, because if that room EVER goes back to the way it looked before, I am posting the after shots on the internet and giving all their family members my blog address. AND inviting Kim and Aggie around for tea. Non-coercive parenting is one thing, but living in a hovel is another.
On the bright side, our central heating gets fitted on Tuesday, so I get lots of lovely hot water and all the deep and soothing baths in the world :) It seems a fair trade-off for that much work.

Sorry for the sideways pictures, I'll fix them asap. This is Skye's daisy cardigan (pattern free from The Garter Belt), with an applied i-cord trim to the front and no embroidery cos I just don't do that sort of thing. And I love it, and she loves it because she knows how to take it off :) Bless. Size 2T, in cheap cotton from Texere, and yes, it's far too big for her. I still love it anyhow...

Baby Surprise Jacket

Well, in a moment's madness I started knitting baby things again. Actually, I just started knitting full stop- but I digress. Here is a 3/4 finished BSJ, complete with lifeline and stitch markers. The reason it is only 3/4 finished is because I just ran out of yarn, and DH has put a parental lock on www.getknitted.com to stop me buying more. Isn't it cute? Isn't it truly bizarre, the way it goes from blob to jacket? I love this pattern, I really do.

I've also nearly finished a daisy cardigan for Skye, from the free pattern. Yesterday morning, I had knitted as far as the armpits- today, I have two sleeves and I'm most of the way down the body. True to form, I'm also running out of yarn :(

Rainy day

Today, the boys were to have gone to their dads, but we are seriously rained in. Top of the street, turn left, the road is flooded. Turn right and you see the police have closed the road. We tried, but it took us an hour and we couldn't even get out of Swindon. It's just not safe.

My father-in-law just survived an operation to remove a metal plate from his leg. It was put in several years ago when he broke his leg, and in the meantime they finally spotted the osteoporosis and started treating that. The hope is that now his leg is strong enough that he might be able to weightbear with assistance (which he needs anyhow) without crumbling into a pile of dust.

So, the shetland is spun, and is gorgeous. It's the first time I've ever had the guts to leave a single as a single and it feels quite daring, but I haven't yet set the twist because I don't think I can get the yarn dry again. The above is some wensleydale curls that I bought from Wonderwool Wales and am combing and spinning worsted-style. (Or, you know, mostly worsted.) It is fantastically soft, and much easier to spin than I was expecting. I think I'm getting better at home-prepared fibres.

Works in progress

Well, frankly I feel far too tired to achieve much these days. I have done at least 30 seconds spinning each day- generally closer to 10 minutes- and have managed to spin a whopping 2 oz of laceweight shetland as part of my Tour de fleece challenge. It's a beautiful oatmeal colour, came from Antannie from MDC, and god, I love this stuff. It isn't as soft as the white I get from Scottish Fibres but it spins like a dream and the colour is incredible. It's going to be a stole for my mother, when I get around to it.

So, from L-R. The wild flower shawl, pattern from Posh Yarn, body finished and finally bound off, edging yet to go. The yarn is Crab Apple lace from HPY. The loaded bobbin, and my daughter on her first ever carousel ride, complete with a very rare picture of yours truly- which is there mostly because my lovely Jenn posted a pic of herself on her blog too.

The last six months...

Well, it's been a heck of a time. The bad news, as it were, is that I miscarried early in February. Brighid was born at 11 weeks on the 2nd of February and hir sibling, Bride was born on the 3rd- exactly 24 hours apart, give or take. It wasn't the most fun time I've ever had, but some positive things came out of it. Through listening to and accepting what my body was telling me I needed to do, I came through it, and it really helped me deal with some of my emotions surrounding my daughters birth, with weeks of prodromal labour and then an incredibly fast labour.

So, that's the past. The future- as you probably guessed from the fact that I haven't frogged this sweater yet- is that we started TTC immediately and our new baby is due on- give or take- the 2nd of February. Imbolc has always been a strong and heavily emotional time of year for me- my first girl was due on the 2nd of February, though she was born in October, and it tends to be a very dark time of year, with lots of glimmers of hope. Here's hoping that next year turns out to be full of hope for us too.

In knitting news, I ain't really done much. The sweater was knitted before the twins were born, from some beautiful organic merino from Posh Yarn and an Erika Knight pattern. Fun knit, I'm not loving the pooling- but I have two boys in the house who believe that having a Superman sweater is the ultimate coolness, and every baby is a superbaby, after all. I'll sew the seams up once I get a twelve week scan done - we had one done last week which showed a heartbeat, but I don't want to tempt fate. I made a huge beautiful Harry Potter scarf for an MDC swap and forgot to take pictures, and some socks and toys as well. I'm working on the wild flower shawl from posh yarn, and having a horrendous time getting the cast-off loose enough to block the way I want it to. Spinning is going better- I've just finished spinning up some shetland roving, sock-weight, which is going to be knitted up into socks for a good net-friend of mine who never EVER knits for herself, and I signed up for this year's Tour de Fleece as well. My goal is to clear the stash, because I have FAR too much roving and tops of all descriptions, but I'd settle for spinning every day.

holy cow, I got my blog back! Lengthy update coming soon... thanks blogger!

In the immortal words of Granny Weatherwax...

I aten't dead.

Not yet, anyhow. The reason I haven't updated in such a long time is because my computer has been foul, and naughty, and I haven't been able to log on to blogger since Christmas.

There are other reasons too: http://mylasthomebirth.blog.co.uk being the account of one of them. We have a new bean due in September (or October, or knowing me, possibly even November) and so a new person to knit for and spin for and stuff. Right now, I'm just about at the stage where I can face the idea of knitting again.

Lots of pictures to come: the first yarns I spun on the wheel, including one jar-dyed merino that has been sent off to Kentucky as part of the mystery skein swap. A calorimetry, and pictures of my mother wearing Samus. She loves it, by the way, which is always a good thing to happen when you have just spent six months of your life knitting continuously on the same garment.
And, one bit of sad news. My adorable, beloved husband killed my spindle by dropping a heavy box of books on it. Can we say, ker-snap? Oh dear.

More longies

How pleased am I with these? Now yeah, OK, its a trillion rows of stocking stitch but they're cool and beautiful, and the yarn was worth the wait. That's organic cotswold for the waistband and cuffs, and the main yarn is the organic merino fromhttp://www.hipknits.co.uk.

I don't normally do close-ups of bums, but I am so, so, so chuffed with the way the short rows came out I figured it was worth it. I really hate them, really struggle with them so for me to create something that flows as well as this felt really good. I'll spare you the crotch shot, but that's even better :) Instead of casting on two for the legs, I increased by knitting into the stitch below the end gusset stitch, still in the round, and so- by magic- look ma! No holes!

They aren't destined for Skye, although she's kindly modelling. They're destined for a little girl on the other side of the pond, who is several inches taller- and hopefully, there's enough growing room in them to last her a few months.

Finished the longies!

The bleeding yarn was fixed, mercifully, the lanolising completed and they're all set and ready to post. I just really, really hope that they're long enough, and that the little boy they were knitted for likes them. There is a duff stitch in the back on one of the short rows, but it's not too conspicuous. I'm hoping to get a second pair finished in the next week, as well, so he can have one on and one in the wash. What do you think? If it was your boy, would he wear them?

Urgent help for yarn pron required....

If you're reading this, you probably care about knitting. Please, take a minute to give me your ideas on how to fix the problem of kettle-dyed yarn which is bleeding fairly badly and losing colour. Please?
It's dyed using vinegar and fibre-reactive dyes, is the one in the picture below and needs to be in the post to the US by the end of next week. At the latest. Please, please, help????

Meet Samus

I can't believe it's finished- and blocked (badly) and just needs the zip applied. But, in truth, it is so. Thank Maude. I'm just hoping and praying that it fits my (absolutely minute) mother when she opens it on Christmas, because otherwise I'm going to cry.

Ideally, she'd like it as well. But as this is the woman who made me wear jumpers made from carpet wool as a child, and knitted me a stripy horse blanket not so many years ago, I'll live with the consequences if she doesn't. I know she'll appreciate the work and effort, even if she never wears it.

Oh, the sleeve does sit straight, I just accidentally bunched it up for the photograph.

Finished daisy cardigan

Knitted in parma violet DK alpaca merino from The Natural Dye Studio- unfortunately, it's not destined to live in our house. Instead, it's going on a long journey across the sea where it will be worn by another very lucky (and very warm) little girl. Isn't it beautiful? I just love the way that the stripes have balanced themselves out perfectly (which they have- I'm just absolutely crap at tying bows so it's not sitting straight on the coathanger. Given how random space-dyed yarn can be, I love, love, love, love, LOVE how the pattern has come out.

I have noticed the absence of daisies: I tried, and tried, but embroidery is just not one of my strong points. I can handle this , I really can. It's still a beautiful cardigan.

Demeter

I figure every good spinning wheel needs a name: and honestly, what better name for a wheel who lives in such a household as ours? She was rescued from a skip by the secretary of our local spinners guild, and came to live with me yesterday. Isn't she beautiful?

I have been knitting this week, honest. I have a cardigan for a trade that is blocking downstairs, and half a pair of the most beautifully masculine longies on the needles ready for Holiday Helpers. Pictures will follow- oh, and the neckband on Samus is finished. I just have to complete the applied i-cord round the arms, and then wash and block it.

Yarn pron!

I won an ebay auction for 500g of very cheap BFL aran, and it arrived yesterday (Saturday.) I love this stuff, I really do- I've been petting it and stroking it. And, of course, tipping large quantities of vinegar and dye over it to see what happens!


The end result is a kettle-dyed blue/green yarn, destined to be a pair of longies for the MDC holiday helper appeal. It's kind of sad to think that for the cost of these 200g, I wouldn't be able to get even one ball of Rowan or Jaeger or something like that.
The best thing? I checked on ebay tonight, and there's another 500g listed. This could get expensive.

The Skye at night

I love Bonfire night. I love the anarchy of it's history, I love the colours, the smells, the excitement, the opportunity to stay up late. I love it all.
This weekend, we've had lots of fireworks, and lots of bangs and oohs and ahs. Skye's new hat was finished on Friday night, just in time for me to make her wear it everywhere over the weekend (and I did. Oh yes, I truly did.) It's amazing- 27 people have told me how gorgeous it is over the last two days, and 26 of them told me how gorgeous my daughter was- NOBODY mistook her for a boy. Both the girl and the hat are very adorable though.
The socks are well underway- the short row heel is turned, the stripes jog less than Jordan in the run-up to a marathon, and they still feel fantastically soft. Back to Samus.

Knitting ADD

This is a very new and exciting experience for me, but I'm enjoying it. We went out to John Lewis at Cribbs Causeway today and I got some pretty new yarn to make Skye a winter hat. It's Soho, the replacement for Debbie Bliss maya and feels gorgeous- there was some lovely DK alpaca silk as well, but I resisted (desisted?) Samus is nearly there- one sleeve in, one sleeve on the needles, and I got a badful of goodies- leather and suede scraps and some gorgeous florals- from the local scrap store. Some of this will be a pointy kitty, some a pincushion, and the rest- who knows?
I've been working on a sock for Skye as well, striping pink RYC baby soft with the leftover fuschia alpaca from her cardigan. The sock is beautiful to feel, but ugly beyond belief to look at- the stripes are here, there and everywhere and the short-row heel looks more like fishnet stockings.So it will be frogged, and reknitted.

Avebury

The boys have been a little, erm, hyper recently, so we took them out for a nice long Sunday ramble yesterday- at least, that was the plan. Instead, they dragged me up a steep, muddy and grassy bank, and down a steep, muddy grassy bank until I fell in a panting, breathless heap at the front wheel of the buggy and begged for mercy. Pretty much a typical day, then.
The banks were surrounding the largest stone circle, Avebury which is as breathtakingly beautiful and spiritual as I remember it. It's still one of my favourite places, and there's a beech grove just inside the circle where the boys could have stayed for hours, just sitting, under the trees, enjoying the crisp autumn day. Truly magickal.

And in knitting news, Samus is going well and now has one arm. Pictures will follow, eventually.

Dum de dum, dum de dum

As you know, Doctor Who is a BIG deal in my house. Having formerly been married to an obsessive fan, I have two small boys with an avid interest in the programme and a recreational hobby for the grownups is taking the michael out of it.
So, on the wettest morning of half term, we packed the children (and my mother) on a train to Cardiff- a whole different country- to go and look at Daleks. And it was absolutely fantastic. The boys loved the exhibition, daleks, cybermen and all, and the grownups loved Cardiff bay. And Skye, bless her, just sat and watched the world go by with big blue eyes.
If you're ever in Cardiff bay, I heartily recommend a little place called Kemi's (which is in the craft at the bay centre) for lunch. We had paninis, which were huge, or soup- tomato and butterbean- which was spicy, hearty, filling, and probably the best thing I've eaten all year. Absolute bliss, and a truly fantastic day out.