Float'n'purl

Seventh Heaven

The Monday morning blues really kicked in this morning after such a wonderful weekend. Apart from the great weather we loved two of the three plots we went to view but this one at Claonaig just blew us away. This is a photo from the middle of the plot which is elevated above the road, and another from the road adjacent looking out towards Arran.   The Church on the left is currently being renovated into a house - and as for the view............but I'm trying desperately not to get too excited although we have made a verbal offer today so watch this space!

Even if things don't work out we certainly learned a lot about looking for land and by coincidence (or fate which I'm a firm believer of) we met the branch manger of a large Glasgow estate agents on Saturday night who gave us lots of sound advice.

Of course with all that traveling I was able to get some knitting done when I wasn't driving. I couldn't work on Emma's jumping dress as I'd ran out of cream for the stripes (although a ball arrived in the post today from Laughing Hens) so I had the perfect excuse to start something else. Here is my progress on the scarfs from "Simply Knitting" magazine. It's my first time knitting on round needles and I found it really easy and very portable for traveling so I can see me buying a few more in the future. I'd like to knit a scarf for my mum but I think I might keep this first attempt for myself if it has any mistakes!

And finally I just wanted to add a picture of the plants my friend Lynne kindly gave me at the weekend. Paul and I met up with Lynne and her boyfriend Jason at a very swanky hotel by Loch Lomand for a coffee and posh scone. Big thanks to Lynne for driving there to meet us and of course for the plants which includes lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, courgettes and sunflowers - I just hope that my non-green fingers don't kill them!!

Just a Quickie Before the Weekend

Paul and I are off to Scotland again this weekend to look at some plots of land. Two are at Kilmichael Glen, and another at Claonaig by Skipness. I'm trying not to get too excited as we've missed out when bidding on land before. Anyway, we're also treating the trip as a little mini-break by staying in a nice B&B called Bellanoch House which is right by the Crinan Canal. I'm especially looking forward to having a long relaxing bath as we don't have one on the boat and it's something I really miss!

I also wanted to say a quick word about a new blog I've been reading at Hip Knits by Trudie Bamford. If you haven't been there then definitely pay Trudie a visit at her fabulous on-line shop (by the same name). She sells wonderful hand-crafted, natural dyed wool, cotton and silk. I especially like the recycled sari silk which is bursting with colour! I'll have to pour over my pattern books to find something that I can knit. Help - I can feel a bit of stash enhancement coming on.........

Still Hurting.........

Just thought I would post this less than attractive picture of myself (no.1760) and Louise running yesterday as proof that we did it (like I need a reminder)! No knitting progress today as I had to work late and then I couldn't ignore my mount Everest of ironing any longer as I'd ran out of clothes for work. Its terrible when domestic chores get in the way of doing something you love.............such is life!

On my knees!

I ran the Liverpool Women's 10k race today around Sefton Park in a personal best of 1 hour 8 mins. It's a personal best since I've never actually run this far in my life, having only run in Race Race for Life runs previously. I've had a cold for the last three weeks so training has been a bit of a non-starter and if it wasn't for my friend Louise from work I wouldn't have been doing it at all but I couldn't let her down (like I did last year!). Some of the lads from the office came out to cheer us on and take photographic evidence so I'm dreading the pictures going round the office tomorrow of me with a beetroot head (I get really red in the face when I exercise). Needless to say that my knees are killing my now! It's times like this that I really wish we had a bath on the boat.

Not much happening on the knitting front. My mum was horrified that I'd even contemplate starting another project before finishing one first so I'm plodding on with Emma's Jumping Dress. It looks like I might run out of the cream which is a bummer as I don't want to make the trip to John Lewis in Cheadle which is about 25 miles away so I'll have to buy another ball on the net. Still, I don't think it will matter much if its a different dye lot as the stripes are far enough apart for it not to matter.

I have been on a bit of a "stash dash" though to buy some Sirdar Dune for the scarf pattern from "Simply Knitting" magazine.  I bought two balls with the intension of making one for my mum. I also bought some stitch markers and a circular needle - my very first! I know that some knitters have really lovely bead stitch markers which I might get round to making one day but for the moment I just want to get knitting.

And just to finish, I saw this card in Borders Books today when I was buying a birthday card for my friend Sarah. It really made me laugh. I also thought I would post this knitting smiley I found on the web recently. If you double click on his image he should start knitting!!!

Jumping Ahead

I had a lovely weekend with my family back in Paisley. It was great to see everyone in the same place at the same time instead of my usual rushing around trying to fit in as many visits as possible. This gave Paul and I time to take a drive out to Loch Fyne yesterday to view a property we were interested in. It was beautiful weather and a fabulous drive. The cottage was very cute but expensive and a bit too pristine, although we loved the location - right by the Crinan Canal (we can't be away from water for too long). I think we might still hold out for a piece of land which is our ultimate dream.........

Anyway, back to knitting. I made good progress with Emma's Jumping Dress while Paul drove all the way back yesterday so I've now finished the back.

My mum showed me how to do yfwd and yon stitches and I cast on Elspeth again but three goes later and still I didn't have enough stitches to finish the pattern. I double checked the number of stitches cast on with the number in the pattern god knows how many times and still it didn't work. Both my mum and I were very confused (and she can practically knit arrans in her sleep), so I've decided to try to finish my other projects first before tackling Elspeth.

But to cheer me up this arrived in the post. If you haven't bought it yet then get onto Amazon straight away. Its a lovely little book from the Yarn Harlot with lots of humor and honesty (much like her blog)!! Your bound to recognise something of yourself in between these pages

Linking Mad!!!

A big thanks to Karin, Noo, Tracy and Mary for your top tips on adding links! Its amazingly easy really but I just couldn't work it out. There's no stopping me now - I'll be adding in links everywhere!

So back to knitting progress.........yes I did cast on my socks last night but spent the whole evening trying to work out what to do with a copy of "Stitch 'n' Bitch" on my lap I attempted my first knitting in the round which wasn't easy. However I have found a great site Socks 101 which has a great step by step guide to sock knitting so I'm going to give it another go but instead I think I'll use some spare wool from my stash to practice with first.

My other news is that I found a new magazine "Simply Knitting" - well its new to me but I guess most of you more worldly wise knitters out there have already checked it out! As a beginner I think its great - lots of good tips, easy as well as difficult patterns although a lot are Rowan and I have them already but my two favorites are this scarf called silky elegance in Rowan Kidsilk Haze and these funky belts in Sidar Duet, Sunggly Bubbly or Silky Look. I'm definitely hooked. And the free Bamboo Needle Set if you subscribe means that I can't resist a regular subscription as I'm also a bit of a magazine-aholic.

I bought this tonight from Borders Books near Liverpool Airport where I was shopping for my sister's birthday present (I got her a really nice bag from M&S) and the last time I was there they had one or two knitting books but this time they had shelves and shelves. In fact I felt a bit overwhelmed and walked away without buying anything except for the magazine but then I did order two books from Amazon last night (again spending virtual money doesn't count - does it?). More on my purchases next week when they arrive! I love getting parcels through the post!

And finally, I have to add this picture of my first attempts at Elspeth. After only a couple of rows I ended up with too many stitches so I didn't even bother posting about it but this weekend I'm off to Paisley to visit my Mum and Dad for a big family do (my nephew's first communion) so I thought I would get my mum to help as she's such an ace knitter. Maybe I'm taking on too much? Socks and a lacy pattern for the first time but I can't help it, I just want to dive in the minute I see a nice pattern/ lovely wool combination. I choose "438 Sour" which if you haven't seen it is more green than yellow in my opinion, definitely the "in" colour this summer. Mind you I might not finish it before the winter.....................have a nice weekend everyone!!

Its all about progress........

At last I have something worth a post. Some progress on the "Jumping Dress". I'm nearly finished the back, only the left hand side of the neck to go. What I didn't appreciate from the pictures in the book is that the stripes get closer together as you go further towards the neck which makes it more interesting to knit but I'm glad I didn't use the same number of colours in the pattern (3 per stripe) as I would have lots of ends to sew in - or I could have used the technique beautifully illustrated by Jen http://www.xtreme-knitting.com/blog/ but I'm not that experienced yet!

Talking of experience, look what arrived in the post today! Its my sock starter kit from Web of Wool http://www.webofwool.co.uk/. Its one of the Mini Regina's in Rio and is less pink and more red than the photo. I thought I would take the plunge and try sock knitting since it seems to be what "real" knitters do as opposed to a learner like me! Is this crazy - the equivalent of knitting suicide? If I don't finish them will I admit defeat and give up? Hopefully not but in order to avoid disaster I would really appreciate some tips!

The other pleasing thing about this purchase is that it didn't cost anything - well of course it did cost money but only virtual money (and that doesn't count!) since its from my paypal account where I had some money left from when I sold stuff on e-bay last year and was too excited to realise that unless you tell paypal to transfer your money it stays in your account. So for a whole year I had about £65.00 sitting in virtual space until I started building my knitting stash earlier this year, and low and behold I "found" all of this FREE money. Needless to say its all spent now (the socks were from my last tenner) - so you see, this wool really is FREE!! And what's even better about this particular kit is the really cute bamboo needles which more than satisfies my environmental ethical stance!!

Right, I'm off to try casting on my socks and see what happens - I know from other blogs that it can become addictive (heaven help me, I'll never get my thesis written).

p.s by the way, can anyone who uses typepad tell me how to add a link in a post like the one above for Jen but I only want the name to appear and not the whole web address?