Lucy in the ply with diamonds....

The dreadful pun is in honor of Ginger Lucy's birthday... who was born in the 80's. Nuff said! Happy Birthday Sweetie!!! xxx



I presented her with 50g of the Brown Falkland I spun and plied last week but also soaked it in some orange and ginger scented shower gel for maximum sniffing pleasure.

100g of Blue-Faced Leicester was spun up in a week.



This time round I watched a clip on correct plying off Youtube. I erred on the side of caution and overplied but may have overdone it slightly. Tried whacking the curly bits out but my yarn was still pretty uneven. Boo,... another lesson I learnt was that you should wind the yarn off your makeshift lazy kate from the same direction, otherwise one single will get unplied. Although I'm quite chuffed with how it turned out, I may still ply the 2-plys together to create a cabled yarn.



In the interest of experimenting, I also plied 3-singles together as it apparently creates more 'rounded yarn'. I liked it too but I have no idea what on earth I'm going to do with my 2 new skeins... hmmm,...



The Flutter-bys are also completed and on the road to further adventures. It only took me 2 weeks to zip these up - Wowzer! Similarly mind-blowing, was the Norwegian Continental purl stitch class at Iknit - it makes ribbing a complete joy.

Yin & Yarn

So after a long hiatus away from Ewan, I dusted him off and gave him a good work-out this weekend. It was evident from his creaking on Sunday evening that he was a little out of shape. But what a productive weekend we had getting reacquainted with our beloved Radio 4 murmuring in the background.

A better student spinner would read all her books thoroughly, take careful notes and remember general guidelines. Yours truly here however, in her impatience to get on with it flicked through her manuals with a desultory glance at diagrams. This disregard for proper preparation thereby resulted in unnecessary mistakes and learning the hard way. Oh well, it was ever thus and ever will be - it's far too late for me to change.

So; lesson 1- move the yarn from one hook to the other gradually so that you get an even spread. I was building it up on each section of the bobbin which caused a whole heap of trouble when it came to plying. This is when it all collapsed into each other making a bit of a tangled mess on the bobbin... and far too much stopping and starting…and some weird protrusions from said yarn causing it to look like insects' feelers.



You are not supposed to leave singles on the bobbins for 6 weeks either as it releases the twists. I'm not entirely sure how long twists can keep but I'm sure someone on Ravelry will be able to tell me.

It had been quite a long time since our lesson with Nancy and I couldn't really remember the lesson on plying. Nonetheless, I rushed on paying scant attention to my spinning manual or online tutorials of which there are plenty. I managed to ply it all somehow, transferred it onto the swift to make skeins and soaked it in cold water to remove the sheepy aroma of the Brown Falkland. It now appears that one should soak it in warm water so that the fiber 'relaxes' - would scented candles and soothing music add ambience to the cause? I didn't 'whack' it or hang it up with weights to 'set the twist' but rather, had it 'sunbathing' by the window on our radiator…



Measured my 2 skeins and it's a total of 218 yards for 100g - didn't really bother counting the wpi as the twists weren't evenly spread out. It looks as if it has fluffed out a little and all my worries about over twisting seem to be a little unfounded. It will therefore be a miracle if my yarn attains any semblance of 'balance', the desired nirvarna of yin and yang.

Undeterred in the face of sloppy yarn, our eager student pushed on and has started spinning with the white Blue-faced Leicester which is currently producing pretty thin yarn.



Great stuff but I have no intention of knitting with size 0 needles so this may involve quite a bit of plying… oh dear. I initially started on the 6.7 ratio but the fast take-up meant my fingers almost got sucked into the orifice (hee hee). So I moved it up a ratio and pedaled slower which is somehow doing the trick. I'm sure it goes against every spinning rule so we shall have to see what transpires.

The one lesson I did learn was the coin thing for photos so people can see how thick or thin your yarn is...



and also that you should keep away from Merino until you're a tad more experienced.

On top of all my spinning, I actually got off my arse this weekend to go to Knitflicks , sherman heeled the second Flutter-by sock and got some reading done. So I haven't been glued to Ewan the whole time,.. Honest!

Wan Sok

When I was growing up in Singapore, there was a Korean girl called Buyong who was in our little gang. We were an odd bunch -unsporty, different and slightly shunned by the rest of the class. I thought of her this weekend when I was finishing up my Flutter-by. I'd decided to use the Jaywalker pattern for my Cherry Tree Hill 'Cabin Fever' but changed my mind. The zig-zag-ness of the pattern would suit a yarn with less colours. Whilst browsing on Ravelry, I found the Flutter-by pattern and it was perfect.

Knitting this pattern allowed me to enjoy the colours of this yarn, making this an exquisite experience.


Each strand twisting between my fingers was a joyful riot of colour. I'd look back on each little 'butterfly' scrutinising the rainbow like combinations and thinking they were all little unique creatures.



Little wonder then, that it only took me a week to finish creating it.



When you step back, the whole sock is a kaleidoscope of colours, a real messy affair... much like life I suppose. Socrates would say in this instance that the unexamined sock is the sock not worth wearing...

So why did all this remind me of my little 9-year old friend? Because she had a brother called Wan Sok which amused us to no end. Every now and then, we'd ask her how Wan Sok was and if he'd become two socks yet. I know, the childish mind can sometimes conjure up such idiocy. The thought did cross my mind that Buyong's mother was perhaps a knitter. Nonetheless, who knew that one sock could be so beautiful and bring such pleasure.

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Unchartered Territory

Lace is one of those things I've aimed to try this year. My new knitting skill last year was learning cables. I get engrossed looking at lace charts which are supposed to help you navigate through complex instructions. Yet the charts themselves are a hieroglyphic mystery, a new and foreign language for knitting. The framework for something that will look nothing like these squiggly signs.

Went to the new Iknit shop to pick up some addi lace needles and rushed home to try my hand at the Luscious Lace pattern.



Was gutted when I had to rip out the fifth row - this lace stuff takes a different level of concentration. No listening to the Radio or conversation for me.

On a happier note, I have finished a pair of socks for me. Hurray!!



This is my third pair but the other two made their way to other feet. The yarn is Posh Yarn's Lucia in Virtue. They certainly kept my poor little feet very warm in the chilly run up to today's snow!



My sock needles have not been left naked for long either as I have already cast on for another sock.



These are Cherry Tree Hill Merino supersock in 'Cabin Fever'. Love these colours!

* yup, I celebrate the completion of one project by casting-on for 2... and I wonder why I have so many UFOs scattered round the flat...

Easter Sunday

Could not think of anything vaguely witty for the title of this post because I am completely astounded, amazed and semi-speechless that it is snowing!! In Central London!!! as I type !!!!.... Now, if it would only settle and land on a convenient mountain near Brick Lane... hmmmm,... we can but dream. Gruff suggested that I take my snowboard up to Parliament Hill. I think he was trying to be helpful as he saw how my excitement needed to be channeled into some kind of action as opposed to running around the living-room, shouting 'It's snowing...' and peering out of all the windows to grasp the full extent of our mighty snow-storm. It would be a great plan except for the gale force winds which would make getting to the top of Parliament Hill somewhat tricky... now if we lived in Scotland however...instead I am here, blogging.
As promised in my previous post - here's my knitting update. I managed to finish 2 hats - my first Woolly Wormhead Ribba hat
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and this

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Tried to persuade Gruff that his hat needed a bobble as a finishing touch but he would have none of it. In any case, I must admit it looks a little strange because I decided to free-style it... and it turns out looking like an inverted blue turnip! I also made significant progress on Courtenay...



According to my blog archives, I started this last May. So that's just one month shy of a year. Oh dear, I fear the color may be so last-last season but I don't really care. Must try to remember where I've put the completed sleeves, don't want to have to knit those AGAIN. Cannot wait to finish it so that it gets at least one outing before summer arrives. Although given the current climate, that may still be a long way off. (goes off to do a little jig)

Where every street ends with a mountain

I'm not entirely sure where this phrase stems from but it's a pretty fitting description for Grenoble also called the 'Capital of the Alps'. Here are some shots taken from our hotel window. Whilst strolling through the city, I'd look up and see a majestic mountain presiding in the horizon promising much goodness and lifting my spirits.

With wide boulevards flanked with ornate buildings and slim, elegant french windows - I was quite charmed by Grenoble. Although much larger in size, it reminded me of Canterbury in Kent where I spent my formative, university days.



Home of Godard and Rousseau, I was eager to discover the yarn merchants and stumbled upon one within the first 30 minutes. Great!... except that it was shut for their 2 hour lunch break. I later found this place which stocked some Amy Blatt and was thrilled with their window decoration for easter.



Gruff was extremely impressed though not entirely surprised that I could sniff out the yarn so quickly.

We took off early to catch the bus to Chamrousse the next day - a 70 minutes bus journey away, Bliss! In fact, 11 other ski fields are readily accessible from Grenoble so the good people of the city are entirely spoilt for choice in terms of snow which is some compensation for the lack of yarn shops.

Chamrousse was the site of the 1968 Winter Olympics which is reflected in much of its architecture, many of the modernist buildings had a certain retro chic to them. Day 1 was sunny which was slightly unnerving but at least better than Day 2 where we were beset with gale force winds closing off most of the chair-lifts. On Day 3 though, the heavens opened and we had a generous dumping of the white stuff. I was squealing with delight and trying to persuade poor Gruff to come off-piste with me. Later in the afternoon, amidst the bad light of a blizzard, I stacked it big time and apparently turned a funny colour. That'll teach me to go too fast! After that, we had a day of rain then 2 further days of sunshine. Sweeeeeeeet!

When I told Flib where we were going, she made a passing comment that Chamrousse sounded like a place that would have lots of cheese. She was almost right. On our last night back in Grenoble, Gruff and I shared a raclette.



there was a river of melted fromage oozing over the bowl of potatoes they give you. It was a complete galore and sinfully delicious. We had hysterics half-way through when we couldn't stop giggling at the whole situation. It was the cheese that kept on giving and I think my arse has doubled in size because of it. Gruff had to concede defeat after a while whereas I just could not leave it be and tried gainfully to get through more. We had to leave a quarter of it unfinished which seemed like such a terrible waste of gorgeousness. The dreams I had later that night were certainly vivid and surreal!

Before leaving, I found another yarn shop tucked at the back of a boutique. The nasty proprietor wouldn't let me take a photograph when I asked him for permission, instead he muttered some grumpy (maybe it's just a language thing who knows) unintelligible words and shrugged so I had to sneak in this furtive shot.



It was a very nice display but I don't know why he was being so bloody snotty when most of it was acrylic! Tosser... anyway, will put in all the details of the 3 shops on knitmap

On the Eurostar back, whilst the posh couple sitting across the aisle was quaffing wine and delicately eating strawberries, Gruff and I had pikey cobbled together cheese baguettes and beer. Our journey was devoid of stimulating conversation except to bicker about whose turn it was to go to the refreshment carriage. Gruff did lots of napping...



and I got lots of knitting done. But this has been a long enough post so i'll save the knitting to when I next check back in. Have a great Easter hols in the meantime!

Whirly Gig

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking.... and spinning as you can see



My second slightly more palatable skein of handspun but only because I chose better colors. Other than that, I've been experimenting with different tensions and fibers producing this....




I have already filled one spool with 25g of this which is Brown Falkland. Great fun and extremely addictive!

Janice did her Edinburgh show for a small invited audience. I wasn't organised enough to spread the word properly but I'm sure she'll do it again. Hopefully somewhere a bit more central than Stokey which is an arse to get to if you don't live around there. Anyhoo, Ginger Lucy has an excellent account of the evening here.

But otherwise, February has completely flown by - I'd like to blame it on the shortness of the month rather than a surreal warping of time. Big thank you to Helen for voting me a YMMD-blog. The funny thing about blogs is that it was my first contact with fellow knitters before i actually hung out with them. When I met Acechick in person, it was like a re-acquaintance. It took me a while to start blogging and I guess it was mainly because I was sick of loitering along the periphery feeling like a stalker or voyeur... it only felt right that I should contribute to the great sea of blog posts. I definitely want to blog more, at least once a week... so let's see if I can keep it up.

The most exciting bit about this month has been planning our white holiday. Gruff and I are off snowboarding tomorrow and going to the French Alps by train - which not only gives us heaps of green brownie points that we can be smug about but also gives me loads of knitting time... HURRAH! I completely loathe airports for a whole host of reasons I won't go into now.

Will be back with a full report - let's hope I finish at least one of my UFOs during my time away and that I don't end up damaging my hands in any way.