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| Anne's finished projects 2002 |
| Socks: Variegated welly socks for Chris, Red variegated for James, Light blue cabled, Brown wool, Cream gansey yarn. |
| Other items: Black jacket, Red scarf. |
| Anne's work on needles |
| Toria's Daisy Dark blue rowan felted tweed background and large but delicate daisy in rowan wool and cotton. Have finished daisy and entire front. Back half completed. |
| Project Linus Blanket In Acrylic, so washable and quickly dryable. Scarlet garter stitch squares with blue/green, blue/yellow, yellow/green striped squares as chequerboard. 25/36 squares finished. |
| Anne's work in her head |
| Marion Foales sweater Either Emily and Maud or Beth and Squash for the pullover with long waistcoat combination. In 4ply wool or cotton. Now, if rowan came up with 4ply wool and cotton... |
| Blueish socks for me - or maybe Tiger Socks German 4ply sock yarn 75% wool. |
Jean Moss jacket in Interweave Knits Winter 02/03 Rowan wool-cotton! |
Color block sweater in the same mag Looks like an ideal candidate for Rowan wool-cotton! |
| Fantastic sites for sock knitters |
| Socknitters homepage An amazing site including cyberclasses in sock knitting, patterns, tips, technical help and masses of inspiration. |
| Whippoorwillhill socks Another superb sock site. Check out the amazing index of sock patterns available on the internet, categorized by pattern name, size, yarn, stitch, style or construction. |
| Heels by number by Wippoorwillhill socks, the maths and instructions for V, round, rounder, square, modified square and band heels. |
| Toe index Different types of sock toes to knit. |
| The Sock Drawer
The Sockguy, sock designer and knitter. always worth a visit. |
| Useful websites for knitters |
| Project Linus US |
| Project Linus UK |
| Free Linus blanket pattern - basic garter stitch to be adapted freely |
| Wise Needle |
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No knitting done today. However, I've wrapped all the presents and transformed the sitting room with holly. I'm signing off now for the Christmas period, and will be back again around the 27th with news - hopefully - of lots more knitting completed. Merry Christmas, or happy midwinter festivities, to everbody! 22nd December 2002 All done! Christmas is organized and now I can settle down to some serious reading and knitting - and probably a little writing as well, just to get ahead of myself. Happy holidays to all of you who are traveling this year. One more blankie square done, this time in blue / yellow stripes. The owner of this little number won't get lost easily :) 21st December 2002 And another 3 squares done. Have just looked at my book contract. According to this, I should get a cheque by October 31st 2003. Goody goody. Just in time for next Christmas. 'Twill come as a nice surprise. I *really* want to start a pair of socks, but I have to do some more blankie squares. The conclusion is that although the acrylic is soft and washable, and quickly dryable, it is not so nice to knit. I have never knit acrylic before, simply because I would never wear it or ask any of mine to, either. It just doesn't feel good. I am sure the blanket will be well appreciated, but one loses the sheer delight of handling good yarn. So for the next one I shall have to look out for large amounts of machine washable and quickly dryable... cotton? None of my babes disliked wool and they often had cotton stuff. I wonder if I have everything up and running for the holiday... Food - check!, presis - check!, decorations - a little holly, maybe, from the garden. Local cards - I knew there was something :) I don't seem to be motivated enough to really think hard about it. I'll book myself into my diary for an hour's Christmas logistics. It's the only way it will get done. And it's not only me who has noticed this: has anyone else a child or DH who books themselves into the diary when they can't risk you getting sidetracked? I've added a column (left) for my completed projects this year. I may think of some more. particularly socks. They seem to go straight into action, and I forgot I ever knitted them, until I find an orphan lost down the back of a radiator and reunite it with its grateful sibling. 20th December 2002 21 blankie squares finished. Publishers have just sent through the complimentary copies of my book published this month. I get a real buzz out of seeing my name on the front cover (blush!). Now all remains is a decent cheque from them every now and again... 19th December 2002 Have just received my Tiger Socks yarn from Martina - THAT WAS QUICK! two days after I ordered. I'm so excited! It's gorgeous, as are the other yarns she included in the package. Scroll down to bottom right for info about viewing and ordering from Germany. How to wind a ball from a skein: Drape the skein over the back of a chair, or (this is how I do it, anyway), around your toes, with your legs apart. This way you can prevent it flying off as you wind. Find the end and untie any knots which keep it together before it's sold. Start winding around three fingers, then change directions and wind around the little bundle of wool *and* two fingers. Keep changing direction as you wind, and always keep two fingers between the growing ball and the new layer of yarn being wound around it. Use your feet / toes to help unwind the yarn from the skein onto the ball. If the skein is hanging over the back of a chair, just take care not to get too enthusiastic about winding and fling the skein off. If you can persuade a friend to help by holding the skein around their hands whilst you wind, so much the better. I find my own feet are usually more cooperative and more patient than a passing family member. Am on 17th blankie square. I know now that I need at least 3 different projects on the go at once. My mother, who never did any needlework or craft of any kind, in fact I can't remember her ever doing *anything* of any kind, nevertheless managed to convey to me that it was bad to have UFOs. She was wrong. I always knew that, but it takes a while to realise quite how wrong she was. I need one big project to be underway, a sweater, jacket, or something that is substantial. Then I need socks to knit. At the same time I need something fairly mindless - like blankie squares, or my recent reds scarf. When the big project is nearing completion, I need to start designing my next big project, otherwise I feel lost. The worst scenario is when I have finished, and don't quite know what to do next. That's painful! It's extraordinary how people who do not knit or engage in any kind of creative crafting, nevertheless seem to know exactly what you *should* or *should not* be doing, and never feel embarassed about voicing this in detail. Odd. Am I missing something really crucial here? I think not. 18th December 2002 Ye gods, can't get hold of the digi camera, so here is a pici of us all in the summer. Just had to get *something* up. My hair is not so red any more and I have lost *loads* of weight. From the left Chris (20), Victoria (Toz) (15), me, Mike (DH), James (18). Mike's studio in the background. Cat not in photo. Note the way parents sit back with glass of wine and phhheeeewwww looks on faces. Kids are now old enough to look after themselves, with a little support if needed, and any parenting has already gone in intensively when they were much younger. Hopefully they have imbibed from us enough to go and do interesting things themselves. Now on to more exciting adventures... 
16th December 2002 Show is over, Mike and I are just about in one piece, and a few more picis sold, plus a few large commissions. So, back to knitting and work, then. Have knitted a few blankie squares in mindless moments over the last couple of days, inbetween chatting to customers and taking commissions (for the paintings, not the knitting! I can't keep up with my own projects, let alone someone else's). I'm going to have a really good go at finishing Daisy for Christmas. I seem to thrive on deadlines. Talking about deadlines, the book needs working on, so must heave myself into action. This week is manic with people booking in to the clinic for last-minute massages before Christmas. Last-minute good news, Martina has some tiger sock yarn, so I'm hoping I'm not too late :) A little later... Tiger Yarn, Tiger Yarn, I got Tiger Yarn from Martina, yipppppeeeeeee! 14th December 2002 Ye gods, am I tired :) Show went exceedingly well, loads of people turned up, masses of mulled wine and hundreds of mince pies were consumed, and 14 out of 16 watercolours sold. None of the 5 acrylics so far, but a few nibbles and one scrape. They will find their homes before long. See what tomorrow brings. Have just finished signing up with PayPal - this means I can buy sock yarn from Martina yippppppeeeee:0) 13th December 2002 Mike's Christmas show opens tomorrow, and he is ready :) Wish him luck and do drop by for mulled wine and mince pies. See the paintings at www.englishlandscapepaintings.co.uk . There are some lovely picis of DH as well!! Tee hee. Have knitted three more inches on Daisy and one more blankie square. I heard from the East Sussex area coordinator for Project Linus today, and it seems that 75 blankies were given away between August and December this year in this county. Not bad going! :) 12th December 2002 Blankie squares are wonderful for mindless knitting. I am firmly convinced that I *need* more than one WIP, otherwise I get bogged down. Am definitely not going to manage socks for Christmas, as I am not sure how (whether?) I am going to manage Christmas itself. Too many deadlines, too much to do and too little time to do it... However, I'm having fun. Mike's Christmas show opens this weekend, so he's panicking a little as well. He's beavering away at his last painting which is enormous :) 11th December 2002 6 Blankie squares finished, Christmas turkey, trimmings, cake and pudding purchased, some presis bought, 2 inches knitted on Daisy pullover. Not bad going. However, no work done on book for past three days, and I keep forgetting to get a photo done of me for a course I am on in January. And very little blogging. 9th December 2002 Got some very washable and non-allergenic yarn (acrylic!) from LYS. It is soft and in lovely bright colours for a project linus blanket. See free pattern, using just garter stitch, below in 'useful websites for knitters' which I dreamed up on the way back. There will be thousands of variations on this one, but I made it once before in a slightly different way for one of mine and it looked beautiful. You need to get the stripes going in the right directions, otherwise it can kill the look of it, as well as the stability. Have finished first three squares. It's all coming back to me. How weird to be knitting garter stitch squares again. No photographs of anything yet. Camera in action elsewhere, so I'm going to have to wait. 8th December 2002 Well, the chair massage in Lewes was fun. Amazing how almost everyone passing by smiled, and some just stopped and came straight in. Apart from one old lady, to whom chair massage in a shop window was obviously a vile affront. She tutted and shook her head and I just smiled at her. Bless. Gansey socks are finished and on my feet. I am going to photograph them tonight and post the pici. I'm back on the Daisy jumper. If I finish it before Christmas, I shall take a photo of all 2002 finished projects. Shall have to scout around for kids' socks... I've discovered a *very* local farm where they (well, the sheep,) grow, spin (not the sheep) and dye their own wool (well, the sheep produce lovely colours all on their own, as well. Credit where credit is due). Delicious. Somewhere over at Firle. Diamond (?) Farm. Does anyone know it? And whilst I'm on it, just outside Glyndebourne, opposite the main entrance, there is a happy herd of alpacas and llamas. Alpacas are the little ones, and llamas spit more. At least they do around here. So would I if I were a llama in this weather (grey grizzle; note the English spelling of 'grey'; you know it's really grey grizzle when it's spelt this way). We had a couple of llamas up the lane from us a few years ago. They were called Barbara and Daphne. They could turn on a sixpence. One second they're nuzzling up, scoffing the sprouts you brought them, the next second there's a fine line of sprout spittle drilling into your ear... they've moved to faraway climes now. Have a look at http://www.thriftdeluxe.com/, a UK site, where you can get brilliant ideas for crafty diy stuff. ££ to $$ converter included to let you people across the pond work out how much it's going to cost. They have unwittingly crossed swords with "Innermost" who claim they have stolen ideas or suchlike, hence the ***fab*** apology on the home page. I don't think the matter has resolved itself yet, so lie low and best wishes for them. I've discovered Project Linus UK, a volunteer-run, non-profit organisation which provides new, homemade (by us!), washable blankets and quilts to children who are seriously ill, traumatised or otherwise in need. Sounds good to me, perfectly doable along the lines of 'one for the family, a blanket for Project Linus', and there's nothing discernibly religious about it at all. There are *loads* of area coordinators for the UK, and by last count (November 2002), they had delivered 12,782 blankets right across the UK. That's quite something. The American address is www.projectlinus.org 7th December 2002 I'm in Lewes this afternoon at Gossypium giving free chair massage to shoppers from 2 - 4pm. Come along if you would like a ten-minute refresher. Still haven't really started doing anything for Christmas. A few stocking fillers for my beloveds is as far as I have got. No time for socks, I fear (or maybe a couple of evenings will present themselves in the near future). I am still knitting away at the gansey socks. Shouldn't be long now. It would be nice to finish the Daisy pullover for Toria in time for Christmas, too. What is this thing, "work", that interferes so much with my life? I've found a brilliant bit on the new Knitty edition about unravelling yarn that was knitted up some time ago. Including washing in shampoo and rinsing with hair conditioner. Am going to prowl in my cupboards to see if I can find anything I knitted but haven't worn for years, but equally can't bear to part with. Right. I'm absolutely knackered, so I'm going to bed with a Grisham and a gansey sock. Night all! |
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| The best publications in association with amazon.co.uk. Click on the title for information and to order today |
 Socks 2 Vogue Knitting on the Go A new collection in handy format from Vogue Knitting. Socks 2 Vogue Knitting on the Go  Domino Knitting, Vivian Hoxbro the colour and design possibilities are amazing with this cunning technique US shoppers click here: Domino Knitting |
 Folk Socks: The History and Techniques of Handkitted Footwear Both history and a compendium of delightful sock patterns, starting with a simple sock and progressing to several different techniques and styles. US shoppers click here: Folk Socks: The History and Techniques of Handkitted Footwear |
 The Knitting Goddess: Finding the Heart and Soul of Knitting Through Instruction Deborah Bergman Beautiful knitting, lovely stories, and a pattern for each chapter. Buy it for the knitter in your life! |
 Bags & Backpacks (Vogue Knitting on the Go!) 20 patterns for bags you will want to use straight away. Patterns range from easy to more challenging. Another handbag sized book from Vogue Knitting. |
 Scarves (Vogue Knitting on the Go!) 26 gorgeous patterns for beginners and experienced knitters in the same format as Bags and Backpacks' and 'Socks 2' US shoppers click here: Scarves (Vogue Knitting on the Go!) |
 The Sweater Workshop: Knit Creative, Seam-Free Sweaters on Your Own with Any Yarn: Jacqueline Fee (new edition) Takes you through the entire process of making a sweater. Fntastically clear and simple instructions. Peek at the amazon.com link below to see inside the book and to read the reviews. US shoppers click here: The Sweater Workshop: Knit Creative, Seam-Free Sweaters on Your Own with Any Yarn: Jacqueline Fee |
| Software for designers |
| Knitware Design This is a brilliant programme, and good value |
| Moran software Fantastic sock knitting software for any foot size (shape!), any pattern toe up or top down |