Alternative Knitting

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Knitting Bookstore
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Anne's s*t*a*s*h! (blush)

52 or 79 things I have discovered about me, life and knitting. Or fewer. Or more. Currently 84

What Anne does for a living

Work on needles

Socks for Chris in autumnal colours

Cream and gold stripes - a jacket for me

Victorian lace in nutmeg alpaca

Anne's finished projects 2007

Lacy muffler for D
2006 2005 2004 2003 2002

Online yarn stores and resources

Knitty
Threadbear
Ozeyarn
Martina for sock yarn
Kangaroo
House of Hemp
Ford Barton
Laughing Hens
Hip Knits
Posh Yarn
(Posh Yarn's colours)

Secret knittery
Cashmere socks which were finished in time for Christmas 06

Shawl in peacock and ocean blues - lace silk - to wrap around whilst the broken shoulder is recovering. It's going to take a while...

Bodywork and other training
I've done a shed-load of training in the last few years, some in new areas, some pretty advanced. These are the training establishments I recommend for outstanding integrity, professionalism and allround excellence:

Trauma Healing - Somatic Experiencing

Brain Gym

Jean-Pierre Barral
Visceral Osteopathy

John F Barnes
Myofascial Release

Human Givens
A new approach to emotional health and clear thinking

Upledger Institute
Craniosacral Therapy

Jing Advanced Massage
Advanced Clinical Bodywork
Remedial Massage
Myofascial Release
(I also teach with these guys)

Pilates Training Solutions

June 10th

Pickle thinks she's a cat
... and here she is, just like the cats, sitting on top of Chris' landrover...

June 7th

So here's the lacy shawl...
... in the making. Lace looks like nothing recognizable when it's on the needle, but promises wonders when blocked. Here it is with a couple of close-ups of the pattern in the two corners and the pattern at the centre of the half-hexagon. Let's hope...

June 3rd

Picis from my phone - NOT!!!
I am about to download a whole clutch of picis from my phone, but microsoft is throwing up a bug and refuses to play. I'll try again later, sometimes closing down and starting up again removes glitches. Grrr. However, the lacy shawl is now into its second 30g of yarn, and is wide enough to sling around the shoulders, about 40cm wide from back of neck to bottom of the centre hexagonal bit. The colours are glorious blues, greens and a hint of mauve.

Bedrooom interlude
The bedroom is being painted and is having a new boarded floor. I've bought beautiful oak boarding and DH is painting and fussing and DS1 has moved a plug and put in overhead lights and it's all going to be wonderful... I am on a course in London in a couple of weeks, so I'll be away for 6 days and I'm hoping they'll lay the floor then. I also bought a new bed - the old one was DH's mums which we inherited when she died 28 years ago!!!!! It was quite ancient then. I do like John Lewis :)

I spent yesterday reading Amit Goswami's wonderful book on quantum mechanics, to feed soul and mind, followed by Alexandra Stoddard on 'Living a Beautiful Life' for her annoyingly helpful 'grace notes' (YUK! that sums up the tone of the book) on storage and rituals - cognitive dissonance!

Picis YES!!!
Here they are... firstly the stash of Kaalund yarns, from which the lacy shawl is creating itself - the ocean blues in the middle are the ones I'm using.

And just to demonstrate the the nutmeg alpaca shawl is on its way... slowly...

And here is the lacy muffler in kingfisher blue I knit for D around about Christmas...

Pairs of loved ones: firstly Cleo and Pickle on my bed, then from January this year, DS1 and DS2 together in a restaurant in Brighton for the first time in... years...? and DH and DD at the same venue at the same time... miracles! DS2, the chef, has just got himself a job at one of Gary Rhodes' restaurants in London. We are ALL very pleased :)

June 1st
|
Well, I HAVE been knitting!
... just not blogging. The secret shawl for D - she never reads this page, so I'm safe here - is well underway. It's in very fine silk by Kaalund Yarns in Oz, 301m to 30g, and I'm knitting it on 3mm needles. One long, circular Addi, to be precise. The pattern is from Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace Today, adapted and restyled, then after I had established the half hexagon principle, I went off-piste and it's looking lovely. No pici yet. One thing about knitting very fine silk lace is that it scrunches up to fit in the tiniest pocket, so you can take it wherever you go. This has got to be finished by June 28th, the Birthday!

Knitting on the nutmeg alpaca shawl for me has ground to a complete halt... I just hope I'll be able to work out what I was doing when I get back to it. I did write the pattern down somewhere, didn't I..... ?

One the work front, I've been busy, the Harley Street clinic on a Monday is fully booked for the immediate future, so I'm hoping it stays that way. It's lovely having an excuse to nip up to Town once a week :)

Paperchase mag bags
I've discovered - again - that there is nothing better for keeping knitting and a book at hand than the Paperchase mag bags... waterproof now or canvassy at only Ł8 or Ł5. My previous ones turned into... my daughter's... the bag containing vetinary stuff and anti-flea drops... the bag for dropping screws, nuts, bolts, small tools, oddly shaped pieces of metal and other engineering related stuff I find strewn about the house... the bag that got dirty and went in the washing machine in a weak moment and then stuck to itself in clumps because the sizing melted...