Stitches East

Well I think I have just managed to sign up for Stitches East . This is part of my birthday present and I have been looking forward to going to something similar for ages. I found the registration system somewhat stressful, as it took me about 1/2 an hour to actually choose all the classes I wanted and put them in my basket (no doubt due to a large number of the knitting population all trying to do the same thing). Then when I finally came to log in to pay it turned out I couldn't login using Opera (my internet browser of choice). When I switched to Internet Explorer of course it didn't remember any of the classes I had chosen so I had to do it all over again. Luckily I have managed to pay and hopefully I have signed up to all the classes I meant to. Time will tell, since it is another couple of weeks til the confirmation should arrive in the post.

In the mean time I think I shall go for a bit of a lie down ...

Crochet

We have been having a go at crochet at the knitting group that I go to once a month in Ash, Surrey. So here I present my first go at a granny square:

and a variation on the traditional granny square:

Made out of the most horrid yarn known to man! (with the possible exception of some truly awful nylon stuff left over from my Nan crocheting ponchos in the 70s, which has now been relegated to stringing up the Christmas cards).

The crocheting has been good fun, and very useful to know how to actually read a pattern. I am rather a self-taught crocheter, and the sum of my knowledge comes from the Ladybird Book of Crochet (for those of you not familiar with the Ladybird books, they are small hardback books, the size of a thin paperback with about 20 - 30 pages, and lots of pictures, aimed at introducing children to various topics). I don't think I will be abandoning the knitting any time soon though. I like the fabric produced by knitting more, although crochet does certainly have its uses and is handy to know.

Speaking of knitting, one and a half samples left to go for my City and Guilds homework ... (and a lot of painting too).

Opal Hundertwasser socks

Thank you for all the lovely comments on the finished shawl. Finishing something has spurred me on to have a go at some rather neglected things on the needles, after all if I finish them I can actually be wearing them. I have been making some progress, and here are some finished socks:

The yarn is Opal Hundertwasser, the colour is Silver Spiral, and the pattern is my standard ribbed sock with short row heels and gussets in the leg and foot. My sister bought me the yarn for christmas along with a couple of other colourways and it is lovely. I love the idea of yarn inspired by a painting and I love the colours used and the long colour repeats.

It has been a busy few weeks since I last posted. Some very long days at work, which weren't so good, but it was also my birthday last monday which made up for it. I have now reached the grand age of 30, not that it feels greatly different to 29 :-) The knitting has been progressing rather slowly in the last week due to a rather unfortunate run-in with my new bread knife (birthday present from my parents). It is surprisingly hard to knit with plasters on 3 fingers of your right hand! Luckily the cuts weren't deep since the second I grabbed for the knife falling off the worktop I realised that it was a very stupid thing to do and let go, so they are pretty much healed completely now.

I have been plodding through my samples for this months City and Guilds class, and they are coming along well, only two left to do now. If I am feeling brave this afternoon I am going to have another look at my Patchwork jumper (scroll down to the bottom). I think I must be the slowest Knitting Olympics participant. It has got to the point now that it is so close to being finished it is just ridiculous. I would really like to finish it before the weekend when I am going to Rosie's workshop on patchwork knitting. Better go and get a move on ...