Enough already!!!

Still feeling like dog doo with my freshers' plague. I'm sure it has something to do with me feeling slightly better, then deciding it would be a good idea to go out with friends for drinks and smoking a few too many ciggies. I refuse, however, to be ill this weekend for the Halloween celebrations. I'm still getting my costume together, and I'm super excited about it. What's everyone going as?
Not much knitting has been going on, I have however, wound up all of that merino... I then wound four singles together to bulk it all up and make it knittable, and will (I promise) start on that jumper soon. I also have reclaimed some wool from a jumper that I used to love, but now is waaay too big, so I think I will make a similar, but smaller jumper out of it. Aside from that, there is nothing exciting going on.
PS - has anyone else seen this ?!?! Oh, Anthropologie, you are the clueless friend we only tolerate because she is so good looking. You would think this would be a bad business move for a company that deals heavily in customers' knitting naivete.

added 28/10 - I'm getting comment spammed like nobody's business, so unfortunately I'm going to have to tuen on verification for the comments. This is why we can't have nice things.

Struck down

Nothing much to report except, thanks to all the new arrivals in town and one night of mingling with them over the weekend, I have the most exquisite throat issues. Yesterday I think I slept for about, oh, 18 hours, and spent the rest of the time trying to communicate through head shakes, nods, and hand gestures. I still haven't really decided what to do with all of my crocheted stuff, as my original idea will not work as planned... ugh. We'll see. Anyway, if you're around Cambridge, I would suggest upping the Vitamin C intake and maybe ingesting some echinacea, because the area seems to be teeming with all sorts of exciting different viruses and germs. If you're really worried, maybe this is what you need...

This Just In...

For everyone around Cambridge who isn't going to the Knitting and Stitching Show in
London (which probably includes my broke ass), I just got some exciting  news about
a knitting gathering here tomorrow. All the details are below, I might make an
appearance, too. The venue is between Mill Lane and Peterhouse college on
Trumpington Street... basically if you know where the Fitzwilliam Museaum is, go
there, then head back toward the market square, and bingo, you have knit. Here's a
map.


NATIONAL KNITTING WEEK
10/16TH OCTOBER

Press Release

No embargo


Cambridge Knit Café is marking National Knitting Week with a special Open Day.

Visitors will be welcome at the Knit Café, in Emmanuel United Reformed Church,
Trumpington Street, Cambridge, on Thursday 13th October between 2pm and 4pm.

They will  be able to meet the regular knitters and look at some of the range
of goods made to go to a variety of charities. These include children and young
people in Kosovo, children of asylum seekers, who have often left all their
toys behind when they fled with their parents, and children in hospital in
poorer countries.

Knitters will be on hand with tea, coffee and cakes, as well as knitting
needles and yarn, to introduce anyone who wants to come along to the group.

The group also welcomes donations of wool and other yarn, in big and small
amounts.

"The café has really taken off since it started again in September" says the
Community Development Worker, Ms Jan Nicholls "New people of all ages have
joined the group - many learning to knit for the first time. There is always a
lot of laughter when the group is meeting."

The café takes place in the Fare Shares Café at the church, which is open every
day from 10.30am to 3pm and serving lunches form 12 to 2pm

For further information contact Jan Nicholls on Cambridge 351174

   - ends-

All the news that fits

**(Beware, lots and lots of photos)**
The Rebecca wrap has been finished for so long now, I'm not even very excited to blog about it... But, of course, I will. The sunlight has been non-existent lately, so today was really the first day I could get a good photo, so please excuse the wrinkley shirt I'm wearing under the wrap. Here she is, all fluffy and sunny.
Specifics:
Pattern - 'Wrap With Eyelets' pattern, from Rebecca #29
Yarn - Knit in Rowan Kid Silk Haze in colour 577 (held double throughout), almost exactly 5 balls.
Needles -with 4.5mm needles (I used 4mm needles to cast on and for all of the ribbing).
Modifications - I lengthened the body by 1 cm . I lengthened the sleeves by about 15 cm, I just did 10 cm of 2x2 ribbing and half an eyelet pattern repeat on each sleeve before starting to knit as the sleeve pattern suggests. I also made a thicker (about 10 rows) neckband in 1x1 rib, then did a tubular cast-off. For the side tie, I didn't really follow the pattern at all. For the long tie, I just picked up about 8 stitches with a 3.75mm needle, and knit until it was long enough to wrap around my waist, and for the front, I just picked up every stitch with 3.75 mm needles, and knit, decreasing at both edges of every other row a few times, then every row, until only 8 stitches were left, then I just knit those eight stitches until it was long enough to tie to the first tie I made. blah blah blah blah blah.

I really really like this wrap, but if I would have liked it to be just a bit longer. I was thinking of adding some ribbing to the bottom edge, but I don't have enough of the Haze left, so I'll just leave it. Other than that, no complaints, she is lovely.

Other fibrous endeavours have been occurring, too... I've done a bit of cheeky scarf making, the first one knit on broomsticks (20 mm needles) in Rowan Biggy Print is being modeled below by it's recipient. I just used moss stitch for the whole thing, and it took 3 balls of yarn and an episode of Lost (give or take). And while I'm on the subject of Lost, I just want to remind folks in the USA that here in the UK, we're only like 7 episodes into the first season.. I'm just sayin', is all.
I've also been doing a bit of hookin', too. I liked me some of that Carnival Shawl that was in Classic Holiday, but since I don't really do the whole shawl thing, and I don't really like any of the other patterns in that booklet, I decided to go it on my own, and try to make a Carnival scarf, but in the angora I was gifted from Florence. I've made about 8 motifs so far, and they are soo much fun. I'm not sure how to assemble it to make it look like the shawl, so if anyone has some helpful hints (ie - owns Classic Holiday and wants to throw me a bone on how they suggest to assemble the thing), they would be much appreciated. This is one of the motifs, held against the light so you can see into it's soul.
I finally realised my folly in thinking I could hand-wind almost a kilo of laceweight merino, and splurged on a wool winder. And by splurged I mean I payed less than £7, including shipping. I LOVE e-bay. I wound today, in about 10 minutes, what would have taken me, oh, about 27 hours by hand. This means that now, 3 months after it's original deadline, I can soon begin on my friend's jumper. Whatever, I mean who really wants a jumper in July anyway? Since I'm on a roll with the photos, here is my new saviour, he is loud and creaky.

If anyone is still reading this, here comes the personal bit. I'm STILL STILL STILL looking for a bloody flat, and I'm about to go ka-razee. Once again, I am waiting to hear back from some people about whether or not they will have me in their house. The idea of commuting from Texas is becoming more and more tempting.