I Knit Lace!!!!!!!

And here it is.

I am so very pleased with it. I probably haven't blocked it enough as the eyelets aren't very open but that is fine for me as I tend to prefer texture to really open work. I'm just really happy to have finished it without getting in a total pickle. There are a couple of mistakes in it of course but nothing that I had to frog back and redo thankfully.

The pattern is Meret by Woolly Wormhead

Knitting and Yarn Catch Up

I've been getting a bit organised on the knitting front this last week or so.

I finally got around to felting my Satchel bag. Just got to get some buckles and then stitch it together. Before and after photos here for you.


From it's corner by the sofa I have retrieved my cabled hot water bottle cover. I had missed one of the cable rows and not realised before I got to the next cable row. I spent an interested afternoon frogging back the offending section, putting the cable bit in and then re-doing the the bit I had frogged back. Once rescued finishing the cover was very quick and I am well chuffed with the finished result. It feels lovely by my feet too.

My Twisted Olivia socks are coming on well, this picture is from a few days ago, the second sock is just past the heel now.


And then there is the yarn. I am a member of the Sock-a-Month group which I really enjoy. There is a monthly prize draw and much to my surprise I won the January draw. And here is my yarn and stitch markers.


It's Precious Metals Colorway of Tinsel Toes from The Unique Sheep

And of course no update of yarn is complete without a Babylonglegs fix. This is my Blue Banana sock yarn.

Spring in the Garden

Well spring has well and truly arrived. Isn't this beautiful...

Happy Mummy

It was Mother's Day last Sunday so the kids got to make me stuff at school.

DD made this gorgeous card

and DS1 painted a picture of me,

apparantly there was no purple paint for my hair hence the green. The little ones also did us an assembly too.

DS1 also iced me a biscuit at school, he was so excited about it all he couldn't wait till Sunday to give me my pressie so I got given the biscuit on Saturday morning. And then he, his brother and sister ate it for me too!

As ever it's been an age since I managed to post. First the boys had flu, really not fun, actually scary even at times. Neither of them had been that ill with cold stuff since they were tiny and had broncholitus.

Forunatly for DH and me both the boys were well enough on the Saturday for us to go on our long awaited night out. My wonderful friends Babylonglegs and Lottie arranged a night out for us, the tickets came in the post and were a wonderful suprise. Although I had a suspicion something was coming as Lottie had developed an odd interest in my post ;)

Lottie sat for the kids while DH and I joined Babylonglegs at Kirby Muxloe Golf Club (very posh) to watch the band her Hubby is in, Weird Fish. We had a fantastic time. DH agreed to let me drive so he could have a drink and he even danced! He never dances!

I cannot that you guys enough we had such a good night.

The other big Miffy Family news is that Bean has moved into a bed. Here he is fast asleep on his first night in his bed. For the first time in over 5 years we have taken the cot down. The Miffy Family is growing up!

The week after was my turn to be ill so another week spent curled up on the sofa. Still it does mean that lots of knitting gets done so here are some pics and waffle about knitting stuff.

This month DH's Mum had her 60th birthday and we gave her a shawl that I knit with for Alpaca/Silk that I got from the Natural Dye Studio at Woolfest last year specially for this present. I have loads left so am wondering what else I can make with it but here is the finished item.

Despite a tricky pooling moment which resulted in my tinking back 20 rows (now theres devotion for you) the Still Waters Socks are finished and, if I do say so myself, are beautiful.



Next up was a pair of baby socks. These were for a Spring KAL on Rav, I had just finished a grown up pair in this yarn but it was the most spring like that I had so I used the leftovers to do a quick baby pair. Any boy were they quick, I've never knit a pair so fast in my life :)


And finally my current project "Twisted Olivia" using the Babylonglegs yarn that Lottie gave me for Christmas and the Cable Twist pattern. They look fab so far and are proving a very quick knit.

DD is eyeing up the yarn so if theres enough left I may do her a pair when mine are done.

Spring Has Arrived!

I know that technically the Spring Equinox isn't until March but here in the Miffy Household spring can definitely be felt.

The weather has been pretty good all week but the last few days have been really, really good. We got out in the garden first thing this morning in the sunshine for a good tidy up. All last years dead stuff has been cleared out, the flower bed has been dug over, with help from the kids.

DS1 kept himself busy raking leaves together

and DH put the last bit of fencing in so we can now release the Bean without fear of him poking next doors dog with a stick or shoving too many of his toys through for said dog to eat.

I'm looking forward now to getting all the seeds out and looking at what we can start planting up ready for later in the year.

Catching Up Again!!!

I keep finding myself meaning to write a post and then not getting around to it so yet again we have a bit of a catch up post.

I realise that I haven't posted at all about the snow! So to put that right here are some pics.

It was a very snowy week to say the least. The kids had three days off school. DH was in school everyday but then had the Friday at home when the kids were back in school. I have to admit though that by the snow finally disappeared I was glad to see the back of it. It doesn't melt too fast on our street but just gets compacted and very slippery, not much fun for small children and pushchairs!

Other than dealing with the snow its been life as normal for the Miffy household so not much to tell at all.

I've had a lovely half term, Sarah's on Monday to meet up with all the girls which was fab. DH had all three kids at home so I had that rare thing of a child free day. Borders knitting group in the evening topped the day off perfectly.

Tuesday a friend and I took out kids out to a local country park to play, nice to get some fresh air and following all the cold and damp the weather was gorgeous.

Wednesday DS1 went to his first football session, he did two mornings this week and thoroughly enjoyed himself, learning lots of new stuff and getting very muddy. I meant to get a pic of him but didn't manage it.

In the afternoon I took Bean and DD to knitting group, the kids had a lovely time and I enjoyed being able to sit and chat and knit. I've not made it to this group before as the timing doesn't work well with Bean's normal nap time and school pick up but I will hopefully get to go again in the Easter hols.

January Knitting

A bit late I know but I've somehow just not gotten round to it till now. However here we are - things I knit in January

First up are my toe ups, I am very pleased with them and will probably do more toe up socks maybe even with a pattern ;) Babylonglegs yarn in the Ragdoll colourway.

Next up is my Sideway Bobble Hat which is a Woolly Wormhead pattern and was great fun to knit. It's been done in some alpaca that Babylonglegs dyed for me and will shortly be heading off to the Mirasol School as part of a Rav organised donation. I'm thinking about doing another one for DS though as it really does suit him, different colours though.

Finally I have recieved a fantastic bag of yarn from someone on the UKarma rav group, it's Freedom Spirit which Civilknit had frogged from a failed jumper. Bless her she had wound it all into cakes for me, not only was there the one in this pic but also some even smaller ones which I had already knit up by the time I got round to photos. DH has been calling them Tribbles as they were getting everywhere at one point.

I'm making Satchel form Knitty.com and am quite enjoying it as it knits up fairly quickly. It's come on a fair bit from this photo

I'm on the flap now and then it's just the pockets and the straps.

Busy Bean

Busy Bean
Originally uploaded by Miffy's Knitting

I don't know how he has the nerve to look so cute when he's been so naughty again.

He can reach the nappy drawers from his cot now and takes great delight in emptying them when he doesn't want to go to sleep.

I really dread him deciding he's ready for a proper bed.

Happy Imbolc

Awakening

Buds, as pale green lunar moths

Land overnight on the naked birches

And comes the warm Spring light

They will unfurl their sticky, verdant wings

And shed Winter's dark shell

by Silver Dragon.

Invitation to The Fourth Annual Brigid in the Blogosphere Poetry Slam

Feel free to copy the following to your blog and spread the word. Let poetry bless the blogosphere once again!

WHAT: A Bloggers (Silent) Poetry Reading

WHEN: Anytime February 2, 2009

WHERE: Your blog

WHY: To celebrate the Feast of Brigid, aka Groundhog Day

HOW: Select a poem you like - by a favorite poet or one of your own - to post February 2nd.

RSVP: If you plan to publish, feel free to leave a comment and link on this post. Last year when the call went out there was more poetry in cyberspace than I could keep track of. So, link to whoever you hear about this from and a mighty web of poetry will be spun. Feel free to pass this invitation on to any and all bloggers.

And that's all there is to it. Many thanks to Ambermoggie whose blog post reminded me that this was coming up. This will be the first year I've joined in (providing I get time to post) but I did enjoy reading the posts last year.

Cables!!!

Cables!!!
Originally uploaded by Miffy's Knitting

The colours aren't quite right on this photo but you can see my cables!

I have never done them before so I am very pleased with them so far.

Back to normal

It's been fairly normal here in the Miffy household. The kids are back at school so my house is my own again which is good.

DH has started in his second school placement which has gone OK so far. He's passed his midway assessment which is a big relief all round.

Apart from that not much has been happening. I've done some cables which you can see in the other post and have been working on my Toe Up socks. The first one is done

and I'm on the heel of the second one so I'm hoping to have it done very soon. The casting on was still like knitting with a hedgehog though ;)


One thing I have done is to get all my sock yarn out and though there isn't a mad amount there is quite alot.

I want to get a fair bit of the hand dyed stuff knit up so that I can buy more at Woolfest. I think I have sorted a sitter for Bean for the Friday so all is looking good so far. Am keeping my fingers crossed though.

And while I'm here....

.... I though I'd update with some knitting progress.

First up is my Twin Rib sock, the colourway is Babylonglegs Still Waters, sorry I can't remember the exact yarn type but I am loving it. They are going to be very warm.


The other pair on the needles are my first effort at a toe up. The pattern is Widdershins from Knitty and the yarn is merino/bamboo in the Ragdoll colourway, again by Babylonglegs. I have to admit that I am very proud of my toe but not so confident that I didn't put a life line in before starting the gusset increases.


I'm really enjoying the toe up pattern though I did wonder what I had let myself in for when I started. I felt like I was knitting holding a hedgehog. Normally I only use 4 DPNs but to cast on and do the first increases I needed to use 5 which only added to the fun. Still it turned out OK and not as hard as I though it would. Wish me luck with the heel though.

I'm also enjoying my new camera. Its much easier to get a decent picture and I'm looking forward to getting some good pics of finished objects. I'm going to get some coloured card I think to take pictures against. I took the ragdoll sock pic against our yellow beanbag and its come out really well but I don't have much else that I can use for backgrounds so I thought a few bits of card would do the job. Hopefully when it dries out a bit I can get into the garden and get some good finished object photos there. I also want to get myself a colour wheel but I'm not sure where to look for one so if anyone has any ideas I'd be thankful if you could let me know.

Snowy Day

We got up yesterday to find the world outside white with snow.

Once we had explained to DS1 that no it wasn't Easter (I have no idea where he got that one from) we got a quick breakfast and while DH got ready for work the rest of us layered up and set off for the park.

We had a lovely time. Bean hasn't been able to play out in the snow before, he hasn't seen snow before that he could remember, and he thought it was fab.

DS1 and DD made snow angels and we had a nice walk round looking at the snow and making paw prints.


Then we came home so DS1 and DD could make snow men before retreating to the house for hot chocolate and biscuits.


There's still a fair bit of snow about today so the kids had fun on the walk to school, it freezing cold though so lots of ice too.

Years Beginning

Well here we are in 2009.

I've just been looking at my aims (not resolutions, so I can't break them you know) for last year. I think mostly I did OK. I have been tidier though could be more so so I'll keep trying on that one and I did complete the Sock a Month not only for Jan - June but also for July - Dec, some months I even knit more than one pair!

The bit about DS1's jumper did make me laugh though!

Anyway aims for this year.

I'm going to continue with the Sock a Month blog, I enjoy it and its good motivation for working my way through my sock yarn stash. Also I enjoy having somewhere extra to show off my efforts as well as seeing what everyone else comes up with.

I'm going to try to finish DS1's jumper this year. My idea is to take it to my knitting groups so that I can work on it then. It's simple enough to do whilst talking.

Finally I've been thinking of late that my project photos leave something to be desired. My only camera has been the one on my phone and though it is a reasonably good camera it just isn't doing the colours justice. My first thought was to upgrade my phone to get a better camera. I got a good offer through the post which at first look did seem to be the answer however when we started adding in the cost of insurance it began to look a little less cost effective. DH and I talked about it and decided that as what I really want to do is improve my photos it might be better to buy a camera. So we did! I need to read up on tips etc but I am really pleased with it. Oh and I need to knit it a carry bag too! ;)

My only other aim for this year is to get knitting through my sock yarn stash so that I can justify buying more when (if) I go to Woolfest. Woolfest is mostly booked in I just need to find someone to have Bean for me and to hope that DH's university doesn't throw a last minute spanner in the works. So far the diary for that Friday is clear but you never know.....

Years End

Well here we are, my last post of the year.

It's been a year of big changes too. I've stopped work and DH has started his teacher training amongst other things and next year will bring even more changes. Some of which I am looking forward to and others I am a little nervous about.

I've really just stopped by to wish everyone a Happy New Year and to hope that 2009 will be kind to them.

See you all next year!

My Bestest Christmas Pressie

There are five of us who are really good friends, Sarah, Lottie, Sarah and Sasha and we try to get together regularly over the year. We decided last year to each buy one person a present rather than each buying smaller presents for the other four. Lottie bought (or should I say made) for me this year.

So this is what I got this year

How cool is that? I am so pleased with it :)

And here it is in action

And here's my finished yarn cake. This one is Still Waters sock yarn dyed by Babylonglegs. It is now cast on so I'll post more pics as I make progress.

I should add that I also got some sock yarn with the swift in the Olivia colourway dyed, of course, by Babylonglegs.

I do love being friends with such talented people.