Lace Tunic

On Wednesday evening, I was speaking to Hubby and discovered that he was due home the next day. This was quite a surprise as I thought he wasn't due home for another week. So, he came home on Thursday but now he has gone again: off for a course in Austin. He's due home again on 4 February and then has a week at home before he goes back to Algeria. It's rubbish and so I am probably going to eat junk and mope for the rest of the day - oh, and knit ;-).

On the knitting front, I have finished the Lace Tunic from Debbie Bliss's Summer. I have come across a couple of tricky points with this. Firstly, having blocked the back, front and first sleeve, I realised that there was no way in which the sleeve was going to fit into the arm hole. The problem was that the bind off on the sleeve was waaay to tight. So, I unpicked the cast off and the last row, and re-worked using a superstretch bind off on needles several size larger. It was a bit of a pain then to set the sleeve but it did fit. Secondly, having pressed the neck band, it was poking up in a strange manner. I have fixed this by threading elastic through the edge. So here it is, modelled by Hermione:

The colour is actually a sort of duck-egg blue - which I couldn't capture, even outside. It has to be said that I wouldn't have been taking Hermione into the garden for a photo shoot if Hubby was still here!

Talking of whom, he has just called from the airport, apparently in order to check that I have got the first load of washing out of the machine (I haven't) and then to tell me that I would need to take the water softener tablet out of its wrapper before I put the second load in. How does he think I cope when he's away?!

Productivity

I have had a very productive day - which means that there is something to blog about. This morning I decided to write a list, and I managed to cross everything off it. I...

• tidied the kitchen;
• tidied the living room;
• tidied the bedroom;
• put away the rubbish that had been accumulating in a basket on the stairs;
• did three loads of washing;
• sorted, photographed and updated my stash;
• packed the christmas decs away ready to go in the loft (they were down but not away);
• put away piles of clean clothes;
• watered the house plants; and
• went shopping.

The result of this is that I am knackered! I have also done some knitting. I am working on a lace tunic made out of Debbie Bliss Prima. The last garment I made from this stuff grew to ridiculous proportions within a week of completion. So far I have finished the back, front and one sleeve. Unfortunately, it doesn't look as though the sleeve is going to fit in the hole designed for it. No-one else on Ravelry has knitted this garment, so I'm a bit stuck now - will just continue with the second sleeve in the vain hope that it will all work out!

While typing this, I am watching Bridget Jones - during which the parallels with Pride and Prejudice are becoming more obvious than previously. Hmm - looking aroud me, it seems that I need to have another go at tidying the sitting room. It has been said before, and it continues to be true - I'm good at tidying up, but not at being tidy.

Happy New Year

I am not a great one for resolutions. However, at this time of the year, it's difficult not to start musing on where you are, where you have been and where you are going. A little while ago on one of the Ravelry groups that I belong too, Claire mentioned the idea of having a word for the year. At that time, it was Samhain, the beginning of the pagan year, and therefore, various of us took that as the beginning of the year, and chose a word.

My word was - and is - grace. Grace is something that I have thought about alot over the last couple of weeks as I have been going through some tough times. Grace is also something that I have needed and doubtless will continue to need. It seems that grace is not something that I am capable of achieving on my own - I can be remarkably ungracious at times, which is why I chose it in the first place. But in God's strenght, I am learning that I can be gracious. It also seems that it is sometimes easier to be gracious in the big things than in the little things (will I ever complete a journey to work in the rush hour without yelling at someone?).

And so my prayer for the new year is for increased grace to help me deal with the things that life throws at me:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to
change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

God, grant me grace.

Socktopus club socks

Over Christmas, I have been dealing with some rather rubbish stuff, which is why I haven't been making Christmassy blog posts. However, I have also been doing some knitting, and I have finished the Socktopus

club socks. So here they all are!

Wrapping

Just realised that it's over a week since I posted. Oops! Today has been quite productive, although I didn't exactly get up early.

I went to the garden centre and bought a tree, a holly wreath and some mistletoe. I had to repot the tree (tricky since it was frozen) as it was very wonky. How is it that you can buy a tree with roots attached and it will be far from upright. Surely when the tree is in the ground, it's upright? I have also wrapped all the presents I currently have - this does not mean, however, that I have finished the wrapping! And I have blocked Ulmus and my Socktopod socks (piccies to follow).

The Socktopod socks were fun, although I did end up knitting three socks to make the pair. When I was knitting the first one, I noticed that the M1R wasn't working very well and was loopy. When I knitted the second one, I realised I'd put the M1R (and the M1L) in the wrong place - magically, if you put them in the right place, the loopy bits improve! So I finished the second sock and then knit a third. I think the first one is going to turn into a crocodile puppet.

Guess what though - the ironing still needs doing!

Walking in ...

...Winter Wonderland. This is where I was yesterday evening - Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. I went there to meet with some of the other Socktopods to do some knitting and then we wandered round, and some members of the party tried out the Helter Skelter. There were also Curros - Spanish donut things, which I hadn't tried before.

I then got home to find a husband. In fact not any husband but my husband returned from Algeria. It was lovely to see him - although I may have planned my evening differently if I had known that he would be there.

On the knitting front, having finished the Socktopus club package number 4, on Saturday I started number 5 'Socktopod'. They are a lovely shade of green and a fab pattern by Cookie A. - it's just a shame that my M1R as soooo loopy. Nonetheless, sock number 1 is complete and I've done most of the ribbing on sock number 2 - all good, since package 6 is due out in the next week or so. Then I just need to get on with the never ending Ulmus.

Afternoon tea

Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon meeting up with the Socktopus gang. The 'purpose' of the meet up was to exchange Secret Santa presents - but actually, there was little exchanging and much knitting, eating and drinking. We went to this place where we had a delicious afternoon tea:

There was much disagreement (with the staff - not between us) as to how many cakes we should have versus the number we had. It ended with us being brought more cakes that then didn't get eaten. Various husbands and sons were set to benefit.

We did a fair amount of knitting and I finally finished the Scadenza socks from the Socktopus club. These have been OTN for ages - although actually knitting on them seems to make them go faster. The first one, I struggled with the bind off. I tried it twice and it was still on the tight side. On the second sock, I tried a much loser bind-off. It worked really well, so I had a third attempt at the first sock - I undid the bind-off and the last round, rejoined some fresh yarn and tried again. Much better.

Having finished Sockotpus package number 4, I have already started on package number 5. I think they're going to be quite....long. But they should still fit inside the new boots I ordered yesterday in Duo. This place does calf-size boots which should fit better. You can't take them away from the shop, but hopefully they'll arrive soon.