Happy Easter!

The secret pair of socks can finally be revealed. My commuting knitting has been these Child's first Socks from Vintage Knitted Socks in Lorna's Laces Iris Garden for my sockret pal. You can see better piccies of Wendy wearing the socks (and all of the other purple goodies I sent here)I felt like I needed a challenge when I started out on these socks but I was pleasantly surprised how easy the pattern was to memorise. I loved them when they were finished, but I was very happy to send them to Wendy who has been such a great person to spoil. I'm a bit sad now that sockret pal is over... but I do have SP10 to look forward to.... I sent my first parcel off last week and it was greatfully received and I'm looking forward to seeing what I get!
Our secret pal hostess has set us a quiz - 1) How old were you when you learned to knit? and 2) Who taught you?
I leant to knit when I was about 8 or 9. My mum taught me. She was a prolific knitter. I was looking through some old photos yesterday and every jumper and cardigan was made by her. I used to knit Jean Greenhowe dolls as presents for friends at school. I knit a bit whilst at uni - but usually toys. I started again when a colleague at work was pregnant about 5-6 years ago but again, it was a bit of a fad. it is only really in the last 2-3 years when I have had something on the go most of the time - again I guess it is the advent of all babies my friends seem to be having!
I spent most of last week on trains between London and Wolverhampton, or at least that is what it feels like. I have ended up with a finished Socks that Rock RPM sock at the end of it though. I love this, and I love that it is for me even more. Instead of casting on for number two I decided I probably needed to start on the socks for Tony's mum who is 60 at the end of April. Progress so far....
Roza's socks in the Koigu my Secret Pal 9 sent me.
And to prove that I do knit something other than socks, here is the finished "Thinking Dress" for Carys. I think I even have enough yarn left over to make a matching tank top for her new little brother!
And to complete the Easter festivities - some beautiful tulips from my lovely bf.
Right, off to play in the garden. Happy Easter everyone.

Blogging instead of Knitting

I have a birthday present to finish (in fact I have several), so I should be knitting, not blogging, but hey, I have lots to tell today beacuse I've had an actioned packed time I've had since my last update. It was the first Brum Knit Night last Tuesday in the Shakespeare. There were 6 of us in total; Susan, Heather x2, Emily, Sally and myself. Was a really fun evening, and it seems everyone is keen to come back. I need to advertise it a little more now to see if we can get a few more people.

I headed down to London this weekend to visit my long lost friends who I have been missing lots. I managed to fit in a visit to Stash in Putney on Saturday, where I met Alice (who was my downstream Secret Pal in the last round). In fact there were a plethora of knit bloggers including Jan, Nic, Diane and Amelia.
Alice was making the Cosy Tank Top I made for Carys for Christmas, in the wool I sent her and I am making the thinking dress for Carys that Alice has just finished for one of her friends. Proof, I think, that it was a perfect SP match!

Here is the progress on the dress

- front done, and the back is about 2/3rds of the way there too. There is a cable that turned the wrong way when I was talking instead of concentrating on Tuesday. I spent virtually the whole train journey down to London ripping back and reknitting and getting confused, so in the end I have left it and duplicate stitched over the top. It doesn't look great but I know it won't matter really (especially as I don't have to look at it every day). It Should be finished in time to send on Wednesday I hope - as it was a birthday present for this little fairy who was three last week. You can just about see the stripy teeshirt I gave her to wear with the dress when it is finished!(It's on the floor just under Mum's knee!)Lastly, sock eye candy for you. I copied Bryony - RPM in STR Farmhouse. FOR ME! Love the colour, however have already altered the pattern so the purl rpm's follow true - round and round like a record baby!
I should hopefully get more done this week as I have two more returns trips to London to look forward to. One work, one play! Let's hope I've recovered from my very late night on Saturday - or should I say early morning. Danced until 3am and fell into bed at 4.30am and then got up to phone for Glastonbury tickets at 9am. I was unsuccessful (boooo) however there is still a chance when the returns go on sale

Twit Twooooooooooooo

Meet Oswald. He was finished on the bus on the way to see my Mom on Thursday evening, hence the rubbish photo of him with his scarf. He is the softest owl in the world and he now lives with Monkey and Albert on the sofa at my Mom's house. She has been really poorly recently, so it was good to be able to make her something to cheer her up!

Pattern - Otto Owl from Lucinda Guy's And So To Bed

I used the DB Baby Cashmerino that was left over from Owen's blanket and smaller needles rather than RYC Cashsoft the pattern called for. The scarf is made from Mission Falls cotton left over from Tony's Elephant - so an excellent project for using up odds and ends.

I love him!

Started: 8th March

Finished: 22nd March

And now onto the latest project - the garden. This is the view out of the bedroom window this morning.

Just before lunch from the kitchen And at about 5.30pm from the bedroom again.....
I had to come in and get warm, and of course, share all our hard work with you! More tomorrow... let's hope I'm not too tired for knitting tonight as it is someone's 3rd Birthday on Wednesday and I've only done 4 rows of her present. Ooooops.
Maybe soon I'll have my much longed for vegetable patch. Fingers Crossed.

1995 - A good year for music?

I saw this meme on Wendy's blog and thought it was an excellent idea.
So, you take the top 50 records from the year you were 18 from this website http://www.onmc.iinet.net.au/, post the list and then -
bold the ones you liked,
strike the ones you disliked
and italicize the ones you knew but didn’t particularly like or dislike.
The ones you don’t know will still be in normal text.
So, here are the top 50 songs from 1995.
1995 to me means britpop, A levels and moving to University in Sheffield. I think the list below shows thigns a little differently!

UNCHAINED MELODY c/w (THERE'LL BE BLUEBIRDS OVER) THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER Robson Green & Jerome Flynn There is too much Robson & Jerome near the top of this list

GANGSTA'S PARADISE Coolio featuring LV I am and am never likely to be into gansta rap!

I BELIEVE c/w UP ON THE ROOF Robson Green & Jerome Flynn see above - shocking

BACK FOR GOOD Take That Although I probably wouldn't admit it at the time, I was a little partial to take that, and remember buying the greatest hits from Virgin in Sheffield whilst hoping noone would see me!

THINK TWICE Celine Dion Eeeek

EARTH SONG Michael Jackson There was also too much Jackson this year

FAIRGROUND Simply Red I cannot stand Mick.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE Michael Jackson see above

MISSING Everything But The Girl This song reminds me of going to visit my friend Matt at Birmingham Uni for some reason!

WONDERWALL Oasis Not the best song ever, but it is one of the tunes of the year for me

BOOM BOOM BOOM The Outhere Brothers What?

COUNTRY HOUSE Blur Ahh the war between Blur & Oasis for number one, I bought this single (even though it is probably one of Blur's worst) to show where my loyalties lay - sucked in totally.

FATHER AND SON Boyzone I probably hated this at the time, but feel fairly neutral on it now

DON'T STOP (WIGGLE WIGGLE) The Outhere Brothers the outhere brothers, whatever happened to them?

BOOMBASTIC Shaggy This makes me laugh....

COTTON EYE JOE Rednex There was no need for this.

SET YOU FREE N-Trance Again, I probably hated this at the time.

WHO THE F**K IS ALICE? Smokie featuring Roy Chubby Brown There was no need for this either.

HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME, KILL ME U2 Never been a big U2 fan.

ROLL WITH IT Oasis Another A levels song for me.

GUAGLIONE Perez 'Praz' Prado & his Orchestra - I have no idea what this is but am tempted to look it up on itunes

I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU The Rembrandts - reminds me of Friday evenings sitting on horribly uncomfortable kitchen chairs in my uni flat watching my tiny portable TV for our weekly dose of friends.

TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME Bobby Brown Never liked him!

HERE COMES THE HOTSTEPPER Ini Kamoze - I am going to have this in my head for the rest of the week now.

SHY GUY Diana King - Don't remember this either

IT'S OH SO QUIET Bjork - Always shocks me when it comes on my ipod when I'm on a train because you never hear the start!

NEVER FORGET Take That Probably my fave TT song!

DON'T GIVE ME YOUR LIFE Alex Party Again, I probably hated this at the time!

WATERFALLS TLC Another one to get stuck in your head

SCATMAN (SKI-BA-BOP-BA-DOP-BOP) Scatman John What on earth is a scatman?

SOME MIGHT SAY Oasis Generic Oasis, but good all the same

YOU'LL SEE Madonna I hardly remember this Madonna song at all

THUNDER East 17 ditto madonna, I can't really remember it

STAYIN' ALIVE N-Trance featuring Ricardo Da Force There was no need

I'D LIE FOR YOU (AND THAT'S THE TRUTH) Meatloaf Would he? I don't think so

COMMON PEOPLE Pulp - I love this song!

FANTASY Mariah Carey I cannot stand her. It is making my ears hurt just thinking about it

I'VE GOT A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR YOU MN8 Another one to get stuck in my head

KISS FROM A ROSE '95 c/w I'M ALIVE Seal Don't hate it, don't love it.

DREAMER Livin' Joy Now this is stuck in my head!

HEAVEN FOR EVERYONE Queen Don't remember it

FREE AS A BIRD The Beatles

LOVE CAN BUILD A BRIDGE Cher, Chrissie Hynde, Neneh Cherry and Eric Clapton [Comic Relief '95] It was for Charity!

(EVERYBODY'S GOT TO LEARN SOMETIME) I NEED YOUR LOVING
Baby D Whatever happened to Baby D? Baby D were at our Freshers Ball!

THE SUNSHINE AFTER THE RAIN '95 Berri

THE BOMB! (THESE SOUNDS FALL INTO MY MIND) The Bucketheads Now this is in my head. AGGGGGGHHHHH

WONDERWALL The Mike Flowers Pops Did someone really cover wonderwall?

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART Nicki French Who was Nikki French?

ALRIGHT c/w TIME Supergrass A britpop classic

MIS-SHAPES c/w SORTED FOR E'Z & WIZZ Pulp And another!

What songs were in the top 50 the year you were 18?

Finished Fetching

I nearly forgot, here are my finished Fetching handwarmers in Posh Yarn Sophia 8ply in Cover colourway.

They still need blocking a little at the ends. I must to this, but I have found it very hard to take them off. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Soft.

Parcels and Progress

Lots of parcels have been arriving at my house this week.
This is the best one. The reveal package from my Sockret Pal Hazel. Although it didn't contain any socks as Hazel has been ill, it did contain lots of other wonderful things that more than make up for the lack of socks! What was I saying the other day about wanting more STR? I also added this book to my Amazon wishlist the other day... I'll have to take it off again now :0)

Some fab labels also arrived. I had forgotten I'd ordered them so it was a nice surprise. I can't wait to finish something and be able to sew in my own label! More yarn has also arrived (much to Tony's disgust). All of it with projects in mind.
I want to join in and make a Ripple Afghan. I bought Jan Eaton's ripple book a while ago. I have quite a bit of DB Baby Cashmerino left over from previous blankets, and I have been collecting a bit more this week courtesy of ebay. I'll show you the colours when it all arrives.
The yarn has also arrived to make Carys a Princess cardigan for her 3rd Birthday (Rowan Wool Cotton in 3 shades of green) and the yarn for Kerry's birthday present... but I can't reveal any more than that at the moment!
And now for some more knitting..... Otto Owl for my mom for Mother's Day next weekend.

I don't think I've shared James' birthday tie either. Slow progress as it is on 2mm needles... but I'm liking it so far. Only James could want a knitted tie!I have also been working on the socks for my Sockret Pal. One is about 3/4 finished, and a sock in a week isn't bad going for me. Should get it finished on my trip to Nottingham tomorrow.
Off to finish my crocheted Chilli Pepper to add to a card for Tony's Dad for his birthday. Tony is making him a pork pie. I'll let you know how it turns out!

KnitClub is Back

I have been along to the Wolverhampton Knit and Knatter session in Beatties for the last few weekends and have really enjoyed myself so I thought it was time I pulled my finger out and organised something on a week night in Birmingham.
I emailed the group who meet on a Saturday in the Library to see if there was any interest and a few people said yes! Horay!
So the first meeting of Brum Knit Night will be on TUESDAY 20TH MARCH from 6PM in either the Shakespeare or Briar Rose pub (both are non-smoking). I just have to go and ask if they mind us knitting in there! If you want to join us, leave me a comment or drop me a line at rooknits AT (nospam) googlemail DOT com.
No pictures today, but I have finished my Posh Yarns Cashmere Fetching handwarmers and I have worn them every day despite the fact I haven't blocked them.
I really really really want to make a ripple blanket, despite the fact that there are now no potential babies to knit for (come on friends, get pregnant, I need to make another blanket NOW!) I have the book, I probably have enough wool too.
oooh must go, because I've just seen the new Knitty is up and I need to look before bed!