Gee, I don't feel so well

As soon as I had her email address, I googled and checked out my assassin's blog, but as there was no mention of SockWars, I figured she was one of those who hadn't been keeping up with events and was in the dark about her target. I relaxed. I stopped knitting my socks.

Fool, fool! For, as I write, my assassin's socks are winging their way over the Atlantic to me. Upon receipt, I shall die and must send her my own weapons (currently consisting of 3/4 of a sock) and target's details.

I always thought I would go out in the first round, but I might have had a fighting chance of getting further if I hadn't been so complacent. Never mind, it's been great fun, and I can help my assassin by knitting as much of the sock until the package actually arrives. Elizabeth, I'm really looking forward to receiving your socks, even if they are full of all of your sad.

Another week of knitting goodness. Monday I went to John Lewis, where I changed my mind about the DK for SockWars and bought this ball of Cashsoft. I've been wanting to try this for some time, and thought socks would be a great small project to try it out, plus add a little special softy goodness to the gift. I swatched on Friday, was relatively happy with the result, went back to JL on Saturday to buy another ball........ to find that there wasn't a single ball left of the same colour, let alone dye-lot.

So I bought two balls of DB merino DK in a deep orange. So far, it's been lovely to use, but I'm not convinced that it's a good yarn for socks (especially those with a stretchy rib pattern - unless they were only ever to be used slouching on a sofa in front of a fire).

The SockWars pattern is simple and suits DK - (with a more robust yarn, these would make great socks for men) and I knit the leg, turned the heel and picked up the instep very quickly. Quite a few of the warriors had finished their socks in a couple of days, although with no homes to go to..............

..............due to power outages and resulting IT problems, the onset of war was delayed, dossiers still have not been sent out resulting in much confusion and some resentment. This is a great shame, because by all accounts, the Yarn Monkey has organised this war on her own, while looking after her family and keeping down a job. If I had been affected by a hurricane, I'm not sure that emailing 700+ knitters their dossiers would be very high on my priority list, and the fact that she has obviously had to overcome huge obstacles to provide us with enough information to make a start is nothing short of amazing. I wish the kill-joys would remember this is supposed to be fun.

In other knitty news, I went to two knitting groups this week; on Tuesday I went to Angelknits, the first time in months. I do like the Rose Inn, but that evening the lighting was dreadful. Still, it was nice to catch up with people. On Wednesday the Phoenix hosted another excellent evening at the I Knit London club, which you can read about here.

Cozy is progressing slowly. I had a slight setback, when I had to rip out a few rows to correct an error, and as I've said before, frogging this yarn in this pattern is not fun. But I love the pattern so much, I really want to make a shawl for myself, so I bought some Jaeger extra fine merino aran in black.

After John Lewis, I paid my first visit to Loop. Just like Stash Yarns, the shop is much smaller than appears on the website, but Oh. My. God. What gorgeous, gorgeous yarn. I particularly fell in love with the Be Sweet yarns [tagline: creative products with a conscience]. As soon as I have finished both Cozies, I'm going to buy me some of this dang good stuff and knit me a piece of heaven.

Anyway, obviously I couldn't leave Loop without buying something; a couple of sets of bamboo dpns, my first Addis, and this, one skein of Debbie Bliss pure silk. I'm going to see how far it goes into making a scarf - using the Cozy pattern OF COURSE.

Right, that's me done for tonight. Must stop buying yarn and concentrate on some actual knitting this week. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures of some FOs soon.

Last night I wound one of the malabrigo skeins into a ball, and cast on Cozy (twice in fact, having realised after four rows, that I was five stitches short, gah), and in very little time I was completely miserable. This afternoon, I picked it up again, telling myself that after another row, it would all fall into place, but coming to the end of the first repeat, all I had was an ugly mess.

It was clear that the yarn-overs weren’t creating the required holes. So, I logged onto Knittinghelp, and with the help of one of those nifty little videos, realised that I was creating a purl yarn-over rather than a knit one. So, I ripped back to the rib and started again.

And immediately saw the difference. I've now completed three repeats, and absolutely LOVE THE PATTERN. Pictures to follow soon.

I don't usually work with this yarn weight. It's a worsted yarn, but is heavier than aran. Unpicking stitches has sometimes been a little sticky, but otherwise, it's very easy to knit with.
The Boyes have been such a great investment. I love the fact that I can delve in for any needle size. I was a little worried about using circulars again, my KSH experience still not forgotten, and to be honest, a bit confused how you use circulars on a flat piece. Nevertheless, the logical way turned out to be correct, and I quickly got used to them. Due to my tight tension, I do sometimes have a bit of trouble moving stitches from the cable to the needle, but I love the way I can stretch out the piece for a good inspection, and the fact that I can toss the work aside without anything falling off the needles!

Another week, and more yarn purchases, but not for new projects. Earlier in the week, I received Lucia sock yarn from Posh Yarns, one skein each in Mulberry and Scuffle. The Scuffle was initially intended for my Sock Wars assassination target, but since yarn specifications were announced, they are both now headed for stash. Must. Not. Touch. Till. Two. WIPs. Are. Completed.

Today, I bought a ball each of Rooster's DK in grape and DB Baby Cashmerino in red. One of these will be my actual DK for the Sock Wars. I also bought 3.0mm, 3.5mm and 4.0mm DPNs, and, with six days till war, now I just need to find the time to swatch.

Progress on My Oh So Beautiful Sock continues slowly. I took it to my first Knitflicks visit today to see Black Dahlia. I really did enjoy knitting at the cinema very much, although the film's story required one to concentrate all the time, as does picking up the instep stitches. Needless to say, I lost the plot several times, and was looking forward to talking about it with the other knitters in the café afterwards.

Only there was no café afterwards. I was a bit sad about this, as I'd really wanted to thank Claire for organising it, but there were no knitters in the bar, so after a wander round the crafts on display in the foyer, I took myself off down the road to I Knit London, where Gerard informed me that the café at the Ritzy was upstairs. [I really could kick myself, as I have actually eaten there before].

Anyway, I had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon at IKL. I bought the Rooster and DB, Gerard made me cups of tea, and I spent a couple of hours knitting and chatting.

I have long been wanting to knit my first shawl, and after weeks of surfing research, finally decided on Cozy (how cool does that chick look pairing it with jeans?). Having found the perfect pattern, I then spent a lot of time looking for the right yarn; given that this will be my first attempt at shawl knitting, requires a lot of yarn, must (if successful) match both casual and work wardrobes, I have looked at and considered a mind-boggling number of different fibres, textures and weights.

Then this week, I decided to knit the shawl for someone else. This made the correct yarn choice even more important, and so I took myself off to Stash and came away with two skeins of malabrigo pure merino wool in pagoda. It's a bit thicker than I would have liked, but the colour is just so gorgeous, a deep autumnal russet (not as pink as these pictures. Just hope the shawl's intended recipient loves it as much as I do.

I've never really had a stash, although my knitting basket has always contained balls of leftover yarn or one-offs bought for swatches. And because I've always concentrated on one project at a time, I have never accumulated yarn that doesn't get knitted into something straight away.

But recently, I can't stop starting new projects, and my current squeeze has been left in the cold while I flirt with these:

Stitchdiva's curlicue ruffle scarf.
After gushing over the pattern and yarn [in my last post], I cast on and knit a couple of rows. I have never used circular needles or knit with KSH, and I started the project in poor light, using only a side lamp. Suffice to say, I didn't enjoy the experience at all, and my initial enthusiasm quickly died. I still love the scarf and will definitely persevere (you gotta learn somehow, right?); I'm hoping that once I master KSH, a few presents could come out of this, but for now, this is on the back-burner.

My Oh So Beautiful Socks
A project of love. It started one warm evening after dinner at Chez Med, finishing a bottle of red in their covered outside area, when B held out his arms for me to wind Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn into a ball. I started the leg during shopping breaks last weekend, and took it to IKL's launch party. This is my travelling project, I knit it when B is driving, in the pub, standing in queues.

I love this yarn, it's so soft and so pretty, definitely my favourite sock yarn (haha, total experience to date = TWO). The pattern is simple to follow, and I think some presents could follow from this too.

Sock Wars
The arsenal (yarn and needles) has taken everyone by surprise: double knit and 3.5mm or size for gauge. Double knit? I confess I'm a bit disappointed by this because a) I had ordered a skein of cashmere/merino yarn from Posh Yarns and had been looking forward to knitting this for someone; and b) socks will be finished more quickly, and although I fully expect to be out of the war in the first round, my actual knitting and involvement appears to be even less than I first thought. Oh well, it's still a fabulously fun idea, and I'm excited to be part of it.

Cozy
My first attempt at shawl knitting, more yarn shopping yesterday, details to follow in next post.

Finally, back to my older WIPs. Remember DB's ribbon-edged cardigan [from now on to be called Ribbon]. As I've mentioned countless times before, I knit very tightly, but even with larger needles, I cannot get guage. A couple of weeks ago, I just felt that what I had knitted so far, was too small. So I frogged it. The resulting ball looked very sad.

I swatched again, but in the end decided to start again using the same needles as before, but trying to relax my tension. A few inches in, I am pretty happy with the result, it's just that I have so many other projects on the go, that I haven't got very far.

As for Marlowe, I still haven't done the neck edging. So near to completion, this is in danger of becoming a UFO.

I have six projects on the needles, and Christmas presents waiting in line. I know for some this is a pathetic number that they deal with on a daily basis. It is, however, too many for ME. So, I've decided not to buy any more yarn or start any new knits until two WIPs are finished. Hah!

Edited to add: um, I've just signed up for Secret Pal 9. I've been planning to for a while, and it involves more buying than actual knitting, so it doesn't count, right?

I am so sorry for the quality of the pictures in this post, but I'm still reliant on my mobile and I simply cannot wait for my camera to behave.

So, first up, on Friday evening I was in an area in South Oxfordshire I know very well, and somehow on my way home absent-mindedly missed my turning to London and got lost, and in my resulting attempt to find my way back to the M40, drove even further westwards (helloooooo?) and ended up in Oxford, drove through a red light (not intentionally!) and almost lost it at a crucial roundabout moment. Eventually I got back to London, drove to Ikea (thank heavens for midnight closing), with great will and determination made my way round the store without looking at any of the goodies, and only picked up what I really came for (you know how HARD that was) and like a blinkered horse made my way to the check-out, where with a sinking heart I realised that I had left my plastic in the car. And I was desperate for the loo. Really, it was a miserable evening.

I remember a time when you had to walk the entire Ikea store just to get out again; fortunately, times have changed and so has their attitude. The store at Neasden has recently undergone a massive restructuring (jeez, you can even take your trolley to your car), and I was able to nip out to the car park and back again to the queue in less time it takes to write about it. The staff were absolutely fantastic and I am very grateful to them.

Anyway, this is all irrelevant; I am just setting the picture. I want you to understand how fed up and tense I was when I finally arrived at home late Friday, to find a package at my door, the contents of which were:

I have long been lusting after the KnitPicks needles (and still am), but having followed the discussion on AngelForums, was convinced to try the Boyes and ordered them from Woolly Workshop on Wednesday, and received them on Friday. [Fantastic, top-notch service from Woolly Workshop.]

The next day I went shopping for (clothes, make-up, shoes, and) YARN.

I bought these for Stitchdiva's curlicue ruffle scarf, which I have been wanting to make ever since I first laid eyes on the funky pattern. There are three yarns of different weights and textures used in the scarf, and I agonised for weeks about the choice. Eventually, I bought two balls of KSH, one in Marmalade, one in Majestic (contrary to what the photo suggests). They aren't both destined for the scarf; I really fancy the idea of an orange scarf, but can't decide on the colour for the edging, whereas I know what I'm doing with purple, and as it happens, later that day, at I Knit London's new shop (more on that in a minute), I bought a skein of Araucania Natural Cotton in a dusky pink, which is actually one of the edging yarns used in one of the scarf's kits. I still have a third yarn to choose for the purple version, and still looking at options for the orange.

I'd also been looking to buy the 9mm 80cm circulars required, but in a rare coming together of wants and needs, that particular problem was solved by the Boyes order. So, am set to start the funky scarf.

Finally, a quick word about the newest LYS in London, I Knit London, run by the indefatigable Gerard and Craig. I went (albeit late) to their opening day, to see the shop and marvel at their yarns. I also fondled a skein of sparkly yarn costing £30+, it was beautiful. Please visit them if you are in the area. Gerard and Craig are wonderful people, knowledgeable and charming, and they are working hard to make I Knit London a success.